Pressure rises for EU deal

The European Union was engaged in hard bargaining yesterday with Sweden, Austria, Finland and Norway, as they sought favourable terms for joining the EU, Reuter reports from Brussels.

The four were under pressure to reach agreement with the EU by midnight to meet a political timetable for entry on 1 January, 1995. Admission of all four would raise the EU's wealth by about 10 per cent and increase its land mass by nearly a half.