On 7 June 1991, in an article in the French daily newspaper Le Monde, Maurice Duverger, Emeritus Professor at the Sorbonne and Member of the European Parliament, considers the implications of the process of enlargement of the European Community.

In the spring of 1993, in an article for Politique étrangère, a magazine produced by the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), Paul Luif, Member of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (ÖIIP), outlines the reasons which have prompted Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland to apply for accession to the European Union and considers the economic, political and strategic implications of the future accession negotiations.

On 18 October 1994, Martti Ahtisaari, President of the Republic of Finland, delivers an address at the University of Oslo on the role of the Nordic countries in the rapidly evolving international community.