The enlargement of the European Union in 1995 provided that Austria , Finland and Sweden are admitted to the European Union (EU). This was the fourth EU enlargement and entered into force on January 1 of that year.
All of these states used to be members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and were traditionally less interested in joining the EU than other European countries.
Norway held talks to join the EU with the other three countries, but after signing the agreement, membership was rejected by the Norwegian electorate in 1994 after a national referendum.
Switzerland also requested membership on May 26, 1992, but refused it after a negative referendum on December 6, 1992 (and this state was not changed after the result of the second similar referendum on March 4, 2001).
Close collaboration
Three states, plus Norway and Switzerland (which never joined due to local referendum results) began to look at stronger ties with the EU (which was the European Economic Community (EEC) until 1993) by the end of the 1980s for three main reasons:
- 1980 economic downturn in Europe.
- difficulties for European Free Trade Association companies to export to the EU.
- end of the cold war.
After the 1970s, Europe experienced a recession that led to the signing of the Single European Act , which establishes the creation of a single market by 1992. The effect of this was that the states of the European Free Trade Association understood that it was harder for them to export to the EEC, and companies (including large corporations such as Volvo ) wanted to move within the new falling single market, worse for the European Free Trade Association. States began to discuss closer ties with the EEC, despite its internal unpopularity.