The
1995 enlargement of the European Union saw
Austria,
Finland and
Sweden accede to the
European Union (EU). This was the EU's fourth enlargement and came into effect on the 1 January of that year. All these states were previous members of the
European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and had traditionally been less interested in joining the EU than other European countries.
Norway had negotiated to join alongside the other three but following the signing of the treaty, membership was turned down by the Norwegian electorate in the
1994 national referendum.
Switzerland also applied for membership on 26 May 1992, but withdrew it after a negative referendum result on 6 December 1992 (and that was not changed after a second negative referendum result on 4 March 2001).