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 crucial Western export markets and the political imperative of preserving the credibility of its ‘neutrality’ and special relationship with the Kremlin. During the Cold War the political imperative was necessarily paramount. However, within three months of the demise of the USSR, Finland applied to join the EU and at a referendum on 16 October 1994 registered the highest pro‐accession vote of the three Nordic applicants. The article is a portrait of that decision. It is argued that for many Finns ‐ especially for a younger generation that was significantly more ‘pro‐European’ than in Sweden and Nonvay ‐ the ‘membership dividend’ was perceived principally in expressive terms. It would tie Finland to a bloc of West European democracies to which it had belonged by dint of its politico‐economic system since independence in 1917.