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Hay & Menon: European Politics

Finland

Due to its geographic proximity to the Soviet Union, and its position of neutrality during the Cold War, Finland was unable to join the EU until after 1991. Instead, Finland became an associate member of the European Free Trade Association in 1961 and a full member in 1986. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland was quick to apply for full EU membership. As Finland was already a member of EFTA and the European Economic Area, and had therefore already adopted much of the acquis communautaire, the accession negotiations were relatively quick (about fifteen months). On 1 January 1995 Finland acceded to full membership of the EU. Finland has been an enthusiastic member state since joining in 1995. It was amongst the original countries to adopt the Euro in 1999 and it was widely praised for its handling of the European Presidency in the same year. Nevertheless, public opinion is not quite so warm towards the EU, with only 39% of respondents to the Eurobarometer survey of spring 2006 agreeing that Finland's membership of the EU was a good thing (higher only than Austria and Latvia).