Scandinavia Goes It Alone
HAMORI, L.
Scandinavia Goes It Alone While Scandinavians are hesitant about joining a strictly paper West European union, they are cementing ties among themselves By L. Hamori Stockholm The Scandinavian...
...Finally, negotiations are far advanced between Sweden and Denmark to jointly finance construction of a 20-mile-long bridge or an undersea tunnel at a narrow point in the strait separating the two nations...
...The Scandinavians are unquestionably prepared to join the Western Europeans in forming a genuine, practical community—but only if it is genuine and practical...
...They have also removed restrictions on temporary residence...
...Malmo, Sweden's chief port of entry for foreign commerce, collects only 28,300 kronor ($5,660) annually in fines for smuggling...
...The Communist parties of Sweden, Norway and Denmark are tiny, fanatical sects...
...Liquor sales are restricted in Sweden...
...Finland, chiefly occupied with defending its independence against Russia, does not dare cooperate in European-unity schemes...
...In addition, the Scandinavian states already have a postal and telephone union and a jointly-operated airline, the SAS...
...This summer, the four nations are expected to reach a new agreement whereby a foreign traveler, once he has presented his passport and had his luggage inspected at a frontier station, can travel freely throughout Scandinavia...
...Yet they, too, are cool to the idea...
...Thus far...
...the various European councils, committees, societies and assemblies have produced only fine phrases and plans for world salvation...
...Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland decided two years ago to dispense with passports among themselves...
...Under another plan slated for early action, Scandinavians could reside in any of the four countries without restriction beyond the present three-month period and obtain work without special permits...
...This link would cut travel time to and from Western Europe by at least an hour and a half...
...But Norway and Denmark are active members of NATO, and even Sweden could afford to help create a viable United Europe...
...Britain's reserved attitude toward the Schuman Plan and the European Army has undoubtedly influenced Scandinavia...
...Hostility toward Catholicism is still alive...
...Scandinavia, too, is 99-per-cent Protestant...
...A Scandinavian has the right to spend up to three months in any of the four states without formalities of any kind or the necessity of reporting to the authorities...
...Scandinavia Goes It Alone While Scandinavians are hesitant about joining a strictly paper West European union, they are cementing ties among themselves By L. Hamori Stockholm The Scandinavian nations are not in the front ranks of the fighters for European unity...
...Furthermore, customs regulations have virtually been allowed to lapse, since no one has time to bother about whether a Norwegian crosses the Swedish border to buy his sugar cheaper, or a Swede journeys to Denmark for a bottle of snaps...
...Scandinavian newspapers devote little space to the "European idea," and what little has been accomplished to date in the direction of European unity—from the Schuman Plan to the European Army—has been done without Scandinavia...
...indeed, quite the contrary...
...Moreover, keeping tabs on customs violations does not pay...
...To begin with, at the turn of the century the Scandinavians shook off German cultural and political influence and entered the British "sphere...
...A Swedish law barring Catholics from public office was repealed only two years ago...
...This "splendid isolation" has several causes...
...Furthermore, Scandinavians fear that a link between the 15 million Scandinavians and the 80 to 85 million Frenchmen and Italians will lower Scandinavian living standards rather than raise Franco-Italian ones...
...There is a more recent factor...
...the cost of maintaining the customs office is 104,500 kronor ($20,900...
...At sessions of the Council of Europe, representatives of Sweden, Norway and Denmark rarely take part in the discussion...
...Finally, European unity would make more headway in the northern countries if the Council of Europe could produce some concrete achievements instead of the florid declamation so offensive to Scandinavian ears...
...The Swedes, Norwegians and Danes now find themselves very well off politically as well as economically, and see no apparent compelling reason to look for outside solutions...
...The sober people of Scandinavia do not feel that it is their business to save the world...
...today, Swedes and Norwegians, like the British, think of the rest of Europe as "the Continent...
...and none of the major Scandinavian parties have any desire to associate themselves closely with countries in which the Communist menace, might explode at any time...
...But the Scandinavians are breaking down their own national barriers...
...The joint arrangements cited above should not be attributed to an isolationist mentality...
...The prospect of joining a predominantly Catholic "Little Europe" is not appealing...
Vol. 37 • May 1954 • No. 22
