Northern Dimension to include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, the importance of the Northern Dimension has increased considerably: eight EU Member States (Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Sweden) surround the Baltic Sea, and the EU’s shared border with Russia has lengthened. Recent years have seen far-reaching changes in the geopolitical map of northern Europe. The Baltic States regained their independence in 1991. Finland and Sweden joined the EU in 1995, and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland in 2004. These events greatly increased the Northern and Baltic “presence” of the EU, and substantially lengthened the common border shared by the
New Democracy (Sweden) expenses, sell state-owned properties and abolish state monopolies. The party competed with the Moderate Party on how steep tax cuts should be, and sought to "outbid" them. The party saw it as "obvious" for Sweden to join the European Union, and wanted to relinquish Sweden's policy of neutrality. It wanted Sweden's foreign policy to mainly concern itself with relations with Sweden's "real neighbours," which it regarded to be; Denmark, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland and Russia, as well as its trading partners in Europe and North America. It also wanted to stop foreign aid to oppressive regimes, particularly