Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1939, Blaðsíða 142
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LE NORD
Dr. Undén, stated formally that, as it appeared evident that the
members of the League did no more consider themselves obliged
to apply sanctions strictly conforming to the provisions of the
Covenant, the Swedish Government felt justified in following
the same line.
The general idea of neutrality was outlined in the King’s
speech at the opening of the Norwegian Storting on January 13th,
1938, by the words that “the task of Norwegian policy must
always be to keep the country out of armed complications”. That
this was the common Northern policy, appeared by the com-
munication sent out from the meeting of the foreign ministers
of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in Oslo, April jth
and 6th, 1938, where it was stated that they “were unanimous in
saying that now as before the Northern countries ought and
desired to remain outside any block of powers constituted in
Europe, and in case of war between such blocks would do
everything in their power not to be drawn into such a war”.
A decree from the President of Finland, issued on May 20th,
1938, considered a more special problem, stating that, in analogy
with the declaration of the seven neutral states of July ist, 1936,
and in view of the actual situation in the world, the Finnish
Government reserved for themselves so far at liberty to decide
whether they would be willing in certain cases to apply the pro-
visions of article 16 of the Covenant of thee League.
Explicitly identifying itself with the terms of the King’s
speech, the Norwegian Storting, on May 3ist of the same year,
unanimously voted the declaration that it “maintained the right
of the country to observe complete and absolute neutrality in
any war that it would not itself recognize as constituting an action
of the League of Nations”. And the next day the Swedish Riks-
dag passed a vote in the same direction.
When the foreign ministers of the seven States forming the
so-called Oslo group, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxemburg,
the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, met at Copenhagen on
July 23th and 24th, 1938, they declared in a common communica-
tion that “they look upon the sanction system, under the present
conditions and according to the practice followed during the past
years, as having acquired a non-obligatory character,” and that
they were “convinced that it is in the interests of the League that
this right of free judgment should be duly placed on record”.
The whole series of declarations here quoted make clear on