ABSTRACT
In studies of the recent development in relations between the Nordic countries and the EU there has been a tendency to distinguish sharply between Swedish and Finnish EU policy on the one hand and Danish EU policy on the other. Denmark is cast in the role of an experienced player in the supranational setting, whereas Sweden and Finland are portrayed as the hurried newcomers. None of the descriptions are very accurate especially as membership means various things to different states. In particular, the Danish elite managed to postpone the fundamental decision on supranationality for some fifteen to twenty years. Sweden and Finland’s accession to the EU in the 1990s had been prepared by a gradual entry into the Single European Market (SEM) through the EEA (Pedersen 1994b). However, it is to Denmark’s evolving relationship with the EU that this chapter directs its attention.
