Looking north as Scotland plots path to an EU future
SWEDEN FINLAND
BY JUDITH DUFFY
SCOTLAND should look to the tiny Faroe Islands for inspiration on refusing to follow the rest of the UK out of Europe, it has been suggested. Experts will gather at a conference in Edinburgh on Saturday, backed by the Scottish Government, to discuss how the experience of other Nordic nations could provide lessons for Scotland during Brexit.
The differing relationships between the Nordic countries and Europe will be examined – while Finland and Denmark are EU members, Iceland and Norway belong only to the European Economic Area (EEA).
Meanwhile, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, both territories of Denmark with their own governments, are not part of the EU.
Broadcaster and journalist Lesley Riddoch, director of Nordic Horizons, which is organising the conference along with Edinburgh University, said the Nordic nations had a case study of every option Scotland might want to pursue – or not – when it comes to Brexit.
She said: “We hear these claims that there can’t be opt-outs (for Scotland) – the Faroes and Greenland are living examples of that not being true.
“But equally you would have to say, they are also living examples of tiny little devolved nations doing quite well outside the EU.
“So the Nordic nations have within them every kind of different example – cautionary and otherwise – which you might want to learn from.”
Riddoch said the example of the relationship between Denmark and the Faroe Islands and Greenland was one of “very rational civilised devolution”.
In the early 1970s, when Denmark joined the European Economic Community (EEC) – the predecessor to the EU – the self-governing Faroe Islands decided it would not join.
Home rule for Greenland was only introduced in 1979, so it automatically became a member of the EEC when Denmark joined. However, a referendum subsequently held on membership resulted in Greenland leaving the EEC in February, 1985.
It has been suggested that Scotland could do a “reverse Greenland” by staying within the EU while England and Wales leave.
But Riddoch argued that a better comparison would be with the case of the Faroe Islands – which she said was often overlooked as it was so small.
“It actually had powers as a devolved government to do trade treaties and no one denied the Faroes had the right to go their own way,” she said.
“If anyone wants to draw a parallel the other way with what Scotland wants to do, I would have thought if Scotland never wants to leave (the EU) the parallel is a reverse Faroes, not a reverse Greenland.”
RIDDOCH added that the aim of the Nordic Horizons conference was to “provoke discussion”, rather than draw any conclusions. Speakers at the event include Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson – a former Icelandic Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs who was responsible for the country’s negotiations to join the EEA in the 1990s.
He argued Scotland could learn from the Icelandic experience showing there is an option apart from full EU membership.
He said: “It means full access to the inner market, free movement of goods, free access to services, free movement of people and a common financial market.
“This is the vast common area of the European Union, but it does not mean adoption of the European monetary union.”
Professor Mary Hilson, of the department of culture and society at Aarhus University, Denmark, and author of the book The Nordic Model, pointed out that relationships between the Nordic countries and Europe were complex and constantly changing. “If we are talking about Swedish attitudes or Danish attitudes to the EU, behind that is a whole array of different groups, political interests and economic interests that all have different views. And those also change over time quite a lot,” she said. “We saw that with the (UK) referendum – you can’t talk about a British attitude to it, as there are two quite divided groups.”
The conference will be opened by Culture and Europe Minister Fiona Hyslop.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “Exchanging knowledge and experience with our Nordic partners has always been of great benefit to Scotland. As Scotland works to protect its place in Europe, this Euro Nordics event presents the opportunity for Scotland to learn from the Nordics’ varied relationships with the European Union.”
l For more information on the conference visit nordichorizons.org
SWEDEN has the largest population of the Nordic countries, about 9.7 million people, and has been an EU member since 1995.
The result of a nonbinding referendum on EU membership held in November 1993 was 52.3 per cent in favour.
One poll conducted shortly after Britain voted to leave found 63 per cent of Swedes would vote to stay if a referendum was held.
NORWAY, which has a population of around five million, is in the European Economic Area (EEA) and a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The nation is on the same terms as EU member states with regard to the free movement of goods, people, services and capital.
A referendum on joining the EU was held in 1994, but was rejected with 52.2 per cent voting no.
FINLAND, with a population of around 5.4 million, has been a member of the EU since 1995. An advisory referendum held in 1994 saw 56.9 per cent of voters approving the move to join.
It was one of the first wave of countries to adopt the euro as its currency on January 1, 1999.
A poll following Brexit found more than 69 per cent of Finns were not in favour of holding a referendum.
DENMARK has a population of around 5.6 million and has been a member of the EU since it joined the EEC, the predecessor to the EU, in 1973.
There have been calls by Eurosceptic politicians to hold a referendum on EU membership, but the morning after the result of the Brexit vote was announced, the Danish prime minister ruled out such a move.