ABSTRACT
Finland, together with Sweden and Austria, joined the European Union (EU) on 1 January 1995. This means closer links with Western Europe. Apart from its political implications, the integration process also implies economic changes in both the country as a whole and its regions. In the referendum on the accession of Finland to the EU a majority of 57 per cent of the voters were in favour of membership while a minority of 43 per cent were against (Statistics Finland 1995). From a regional point of view, a striking result was that most of the Finnish municipalities – 328 of the 455 municipalities – voted No to joining the EU (Figure 11.1). 1 The vision of the new Europe as a Europe of Regions seems to meet with little favour in the Finnish regions (see Figure 11.1). Provinces and counties in Finland https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315000220/3bdb01c5-379a-486a-89bf-9dff4222659f/content/fig11_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Source: Statistical Yearbook of Finland 1994, p. 32
