SCANDINAVIA’S ATTITUDE towards the forward thrust of European integration can best be described as cool. It may be the climate, but more likely it’s an ancient spirit of independence that marks out these Nordic territories as slightly aloof and intrinsically cautious. Denmark opted out of the
euro after the Edinburgh Agreement in 1992, while a 2000 referendum returned a 53.2% vote against – although the Danish krone is part of the ERM-II mechanism, tying its exchange rate to within 2.25% of the euro. Norway is not even in the EU, but is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Sweden doesn’t use the euro either, but as a signatory of the Treaty of Maastricht must adopt it “at some point in the future”. Meanwhile it does subscribe to ERM-II. Iceland applied to join the EU
in July 2009 and, fisheries disputes aside, negotiations are now formally underway. Only Finland has exhibited unalloyed enthusiasm for all the international initiatives, joining the United Nations in 1955, the European Union in 1995 and the eurozone at the first opportunity in 1999. Not that this makes the Finnish business community any more or less nervous about the current eurozone crisis. As we’ll see, there has been a burst of confidence at a national level in all of the Scandinavian countries, with pro audio and AV well to the fore in a series of civic showcases. Also, even the national
distributors and venue operators recognise themselves as part of a globalised economy: the fallout from Greece and Italy is just as likely to affect euro-free Sweden and Norway as it is Finland; while at the same time there are safety zones in the worldwide pro- audio supply chain that shield its protagonists as equally as other issues expose them.
COLLABORATION As soon as rental and event specialist Eastavab Group Oy agreed to merge with Swedish United Audio Starlight AB (Starlight) to create a ‘supergroup’ known as Eastavab, the trajectory of this Nordic assurance became clearly visible. This is a merger of mergers: Eastavab was already the holding company of Eastway and AVAB- CAC, two of the leading rental companies in Finland and Norway respectively; while Swedish full service provider
Norse code
The far north of Europe is accustomed to doing things its own way and seems untroubled by the euro meltdown. Phil Wardinvestigates…
Projected 2012 turnover of Eastavab
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The Copenhagen Opera chose DPA mics for the concert hall