Introduction

To a large extent, the countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Sweden have been perceived by others as a ‘Nordic bloc’ of nation states, sharing a large (if at times rather superficial) consensus on many domestic and international issues. The Nordic countries have historically been confronted with a common set of problems when defining their relationships with the European Community (EC) and later European Union (EU).1 In particular, these countries have all faced the challenge of securing preferential trading relations with continental Europe, while simultaneously maintaining close contact within their own region through Nordic cooperation.