Scandinavian sub-region in the process of differentiation of the European Union ; Скандинавский субрегион в процессе дифференциации Европейского Союза ; Скандинавський субрегіон у процесі диференціації Європейського Союзу

Abstract

Paradoxically, but together with the creation of united or at least harmonized legal, economic and partly political space in the EU it is risen momentum an intensive processes of its differentiation. The differentiation is expressed in the emergence within the EU several sub-groups, some of which goes forward, integrating all new areas of relationships, and the other part, which consists of countries that do not want or do not may follow suit (because of the mentality or the level of socio-economic development models) remains behind and thus albeit slowly, but seriously hampers the integration of the Union.The concept of European integration, created in 1950, declares that Member States should move forward with the same speed and equally participate in the implementation of integration projects. Countries that joined, are provided with time-limited transitional periods, after which all legislation and Community Programs is completely spread on them.It seemed that all the processes should take place smoothly, but as history has shown, each successive wave of expansion inevitably led to the differentiation of views on integration processes and methods for their implementation. EU becomes larger than the number of member states, and, consequently, more heterogeneous, with complicated and delayed process of transition. After the enlargement in 2004 and 2007 by 12 countries in Central , Eastern and Southern Europe, took place a question about general existence of the EU as a united front with the forced artificial fragmentation (although de facto separation is already there: the euro zone, the Schengen area, European monetary System, and some other projects).These problems are weakly researched by modern researchers that should draw attention to the special position of the Nordic countries in the process. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to study the role of the Nordic subregion in the process of differentiation of the European Union.Specific role in the differentiation of the EU is played by the Nordic countries. Having no alternative of no cooperation with the EU, Nordic countries have found their own way to adapt to the integration process and, at the same time, seriously affected the formation of differentiated structures of all states.Different position of the Nordic countries in the European Union was created due to historical, political, economic and national-identical reasons in each country of the region. For example, in the early 1990s, Sweden and Finland adhered to a policy of neutrality, Iceland was held on the basis of its specific geopolitical location, Norway is not sought because of the special structure of the economy and the unwillingness to be bound by the strict EU obligations in the areas of fisheries, shipbuilding and marine transport, Denmark, by contrast, received a positive result in the referendum in 1973, and the first of the Nordic countries joined the European community.However, the global geopolitical and economic changes taking place in the world and particularly in Europe in the early XX century, could not avoid and the Nordic countries. Already in 1995 Sweden and Finland entered the EU. Norway had the negative decision twice after nationwide referendums in 1972 and 1994, and Oslo had to withdraw its application for accession to the Union.Coordinated and final position among the Nordic region towards the EU has not worked today. Therefore, to assess their role in the European Union clearly is quite difficult. On the one hand, the Nordic countries are serviceable payers to the EU budget, have good performance in economic growth and high standards of living (for instance, the rated list of countries with the highest level of life quality, composed of the United Nations in 2009, showed that Norway and Iceland took 1st and 3rd place respectively), are actively involved in the discussion of all the current problems of the EU. On the other – you can't deny that there is a considerable skepticism about the deepening of European integration in the Nordic countries. In practice, it is embodied in the so-called 'special position'.Such a state of affairs is due to largely negative attitude of the Scandinavian countries to the impact increase of European institutions on domestic policies of the Member States, concern about the preservation of a unique social model and the reluctance to transfer important components of national sovereignty under the jurisdiction of European structures. For example, Denmark and Sweden as members of the EU are constantly faced a difficult dilemma: on the one hand, they are afraid of losing much of their national sovereignty, on the other – almost without participating in major projects of the EU, these countries reduce their influence within the EU. Norway and Iceland fee for participation in the single market and the Schengen agreement is also quite high, and they are also required to implement the decisions taken by others.In addition, Denmark and Sweden are consistent supporters of the enlargement of the European Union. The expansion was included as one of the priorities in the program's presidency of both countries in the EU in different years. This is due to, on the one hand, the Nordic countries increased attention to the problems of democracy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, on the other hand, every enlargement slows the deepening of European integration objective creates a more comfortable environment for most of the Scandinavian countries in the European Union.Finland, in contrast to the other Nordic countries, fully blended into EU structures, and now Finland is an active member of the EU, involved in all projects of the Union (lobbing interests of Russia).Thus, taking into account the above, it can be argued that the process of differentiation is problematic with controversial and ambiguous opinions of scholars. For example, according to Mr. Babynin, the researcher of the Institute for European Integration Research , RAS Europe , the so-called 'system exceptions' to the Nordic countries complicates the institutional structure of the EU and is justified by the desire of the new Member States get any exceptions primarily for themselves. For this reason, the full adoption of all EU law without any exceptions is indispensable for its survival and existence of effective. His colleague Mr. Kaveshnikov is convinced that the main advantage of the process of differentiation is that it gives the Union a chance to develop dynamically after each round of enlargement. The so-called 'enhanced cooperation' allows to combine the deepening and widening of integration, albeit by eliminating the uniform application of the law. And so this differentiation can prevent the creation of various forms of deep integration outside the EU structures (especially taking into account the historical tendency of the Nordic countries to cooperation). ; Статья посвящена исследованию и анализу скандинавского субрегиона в процессе дифференциации Европейского Союза. ; Статтю присвячено дослідженню та аналізу скандинавського субрегіону в процесі диференціації Європейського Союзу.