THE EU REFERENDUM IN FINLAND ON 16 OCTOBER 1994 - A VOTE FOR THE WEST, NOT FOR MAASTRICHT

Finland's 'European policy' prior to the sudden disintegration of the Soviet Union was based on the search for an accommodation between the economic imperative of access, along with Norway and Sweden, to crucia l Western export markets and the political imperative of preserving th e credibility of its 'neutrality' and special relationship with the Kr emlin. During the Cold War the political imperative was necessarily pa ramount. However, within three months of the demise of the USSR, Finla nd applied to join the EU and at a referendum on 16 October 1994 regis tered the highest pro-accession vote of the three Nordic applicants. T he article is a portrait of that decision. It is argued that for many Finns - especially for a younger generation that was significantly mor e 'pro-European' than in Sweden and Norway - the 'membership dividend' was perceived principally in expressive terms. It would tie Finland t o a bloc of West European democracies to which it had belonged by dint of its politicoeconomic system since independence in 1917.