Finland and Economic Integration in Europe
| Author | Klaus Törnudd |
| DOI | 10.1177/001083676900400104 |
| Published date | 01 March 1969 |
| Date | 01 March 1969 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Finland
and
Economic
Integration
in
Europe
Klaus
Törnudd
The
orientation
towards
a
policy
of
neu-
trality
and
towards
Scandinavian
cooperation
has
been
a
permanent
fac-
tor
in
Finnish
foreign
policy
since
the
period
between
the
two
World
Wars.
Being
a
small
country
greatly
dependent
upon
foreign
trade,
Finland
in
the
1930’s
was
one
of
the
’Oslo
states’
enga-
ged
in
efforts
to
promote
freer
trade
in
Europe.
On
the
other
hand,
neither
the
projects
’for
European
federation
under
the
auspices
of
the
League
of
Nations
nor
the
post-war
European
Movement
attracted
any
particular
attention
in
Finland,
although
the
activities
of
the
European
Youth
Campaign
did
briefly
extend
to
Finland.
The
quarrels
bet-
ween
federalists
and
functionalists
in
Western
Europe,
the
discussions
on
the
EDC
and
EPC
projects,
the
creation
of
the
OEEC,
the
Council
of
Europe,
the
CMEA,
the
Coal
and
Steel
Community,
the
military
alliances
in
Eastern
and
Western
Europe,
the
EEC
and
Euratom
-
all
these
developments
took
place
with
Finland
as
an
outside
witness.
Un-
til
the
late
1950’s,
Finland
had
no
spec-
ific
policy
towards
European
integrat-
ion.
Of
course
Finland
remained
interes-
ted
in
trade
and
economic
cooperation
(she
joined
the
ECE
in
the
late
1940’s
as
a
non-voting
member
and
became
a
party
to
GATT
in
1950),
but
aloofness
from
many
integration
schemes
was
called
for
in
view
of
the
surrounding
atmosphere
of
East-West
suspicion
and
cold
war.
The
new
element
in
Finnish
post-war
foreign
policy
was
the
impor-
tance
of
maintaining
good
relations
with
the
Soviet
Union.
The
legitimacy
of
the
Soviet
demand
to
have
friendly
governments
on
its
European
borders
was
recognized
by
the
Western
Allies
during
the
Second
World
War,
and
there
was
clearly
no
alternative
to
the
posture
adopted
by
the
Finnish
Govern-
ment
after the
armistice
between
Fin-
land
and
the
Soviet
Union
had
been
signed
in
19444.
This
explains
the
refu-
sal
of
Finland
to
participate
in
the
European
Recovery
Program
(’Marshall
aid’),
and
consequently
Finland
did
not
become
a
member
of
the
OEEC
(Fin-
land
took
steps
to
become
a
full
member
of
the
OECD
only
in
1968).
The
foreign
policy
of
Finland
is
now
defined
as
a
policy
of
neutrality,
and
good
relations
with
the
Soviet
Union
are
regarded
as
essential
in
order
to
safeguard
the
credi-
bility
of
this
policy.
Finland’s
first
serious
contact
with
the
post-war
efforts
towards
European
economic
integration
came
as
a
conse-
quence
of
the
decision
to
join
the
Nor-
dic
Council
in
1955.
By
the
end
of
1956
Finland
had
caught
up
with
the
other
Scandinavian
countries
in
their
joint
effort
to
elaborate
a
Nordic
Common
Market
project.
The
studies
were
con-
cluded
in
1958
and
followed
by
nego-
tiations
introducing
certain
modifica-
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