ABSTRACT
The bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) of 1 January 1973 between the EU on the one hand, and Austria and Sweden on the other, had been satisfactory for the majority of forces in both countries. There was little discussion on European integration in Austria and Sweden until the mid1980s (Jerneck 1993:25; Schultz 1992:187). This was to change in 1985 with the EU’s Internal Market programme, which removed internal trade barriers between the member states and implied higher barriers to countries from the outside. Hence, EU companies gained a competitive advantage over their Austrian and Swedish competitors. The achievements of the FTAs were questioned (Luif 1988:167). Both countries, consequently, had to respond.
