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From Isolation to the Core: Finland's Position towards European Integration 63
claim that the Finnish government did in front of the international public opinion,
the dirty work to bury the Nordic plans which threatened to complicate negotiations
with the EC. What the NORDEK negotiations achieved in concrete terms
were the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Investment Bank. 12
IV. The Free Trade Agreement with the EC
After December 1969, when the enlargement issue was on the table for the four
applicant countries, the policy of the EC consisted in offering the other EFTA
countries free trade agreements on industrial goods. From the Finnish point of view
this was the most suitable form of relationship. Already in the spring of 1970, after
having buried NORDEK, President Kekkonen started preparations for an agreement
with the EC. Negotiations between Finland and the EC were carried out from
December 1971 to July 1972, which coincided in practice with the negotiations of
three other neutral EFTA countries on a free trade agreement. Given Finland's
international position, any relationship with the EC was a more delicate matter than
the EFTA question had ever been. On one hand, the matter was complicated by the
then recent EC plans for a closer political union, materialised in the European
Political Cooperation, and for the projected Economic and Monetary Union (the
latter being subsequently postponed for two decades). On the other hand, the Soviet
attitude towards Finland had become tighter since the occupation of Czechoslovakia
in 1968, which implied for instance that Finland's neutrality was no longer recognised.
The Soviet Union did not take up a categorical position on Finland's relationship
with the EC, but it followed up Finland's moves closely, and the general
tone of Soviet comments was warning. In the last instance, however, as proved
President Kekkonen's negotiations with the Soviet leadership in February 1972, the
Soviets were also prepared to accept Finland’s free trade agreement with the Community,
provided they received sufficient guarantees that such an agreement would
not dissociate Finland from the Soviet Union. 13
The anti-EC movement was very active in Finland. Communists formed, of
course, the basic mass support for this movement, but its range was wider. Those to
the left from the mainstream of Social Democracy regarded the EC as a Capitalist
stronghold keen to discourage any attempts at realising Socialism or any Socialist
values. 14 The Social Democratic Party solved the dilemma between the necessity to
12. For the Nordek question see H. HAKOVIRTA, Puolueettomuus ja integraatiopolitiikka , op.cit.,
pp.240-269; J. SUOMI, Taistelu puolueettomuudesta, op.cit., pp.180-198 & 318-357; and M.
KOIVISTO, Liikkeen suunta, op.cit., pp. 199-245 and L. SONNE, Nordismens debacle? Analyse
af sammenbruddet i NORDEK-forhandlingerne 1970 med særlig henblik på politiske og økonomiske
interesser samt Finlands rolle, Speciale ved Institut for Historie, Københavns Universitet,
August 1998, pp.31-45.
13. Paragraph based on H. HAKOVIRTA, Puolueettomuus ja integraatiopolitiikka, op.cit.,
pp.269-283; and J. SUOMI, Taistelu puolueettomuudesta, op.cit., pp.358-362, 425-441, 482-486,
555-562, 655-659 & 673-690.