Letter from Copenhagen/Brendan Killeen Last spring a new flag pole turned up outside our apartment building in Copenhagen. The red and white Danish flag followed on some obscure day of national significance. This was no great surprise: a year earlier at our building's a.g.m. the flag had been discussed
We live in an andels lejlighed, literally a co-operative housing unit, and the a.g.m. is an integral part of life.
The a.g.m. of 2002 took place in the local church hall on a warm day in late spring. The necessary equipment - a microphone and two crates of beer - was set up, and the 150 or so tenants, young and old, took their places.
Things went smoothly until a proposal to erect a flag pole was raised.
National flags are very important in this part of the world. Every building in Scandinavia seems to have a flag pole, and royal birthdays, days of historical and religious importance, graduations and deaths are all marked with the national flag.
The flagpole proposal was carried quickly. However, next came the thorny issues of administering the flag. Who would put the flag up? How would he or she be compensated? After another lively debate it was eventually decided that our caretaker would put the flag up and take it down for a small fee, on condition of a couple of days' notice.
That appeared to be that - the beer was running low. However, one old man then asked a very pertinent question - he even did it with a straight face.
"What happens," he asked "if I pay for the flag to go up on my birthday and either some one important dies or someone in the building dies and the flag has to be reduced to half mast. Do I get my money back?"
There was a quick shuffling of feet as the last of the beer was liberated before another long debate resumed. Eventually, and after another vote, the matter was settled: anybody who paid for the flag to go up only to have it reduced to half mast because of a death would get a full refund.
That was that. It would take almost a year for the flag pole to arrive, but it's there now and beautifully administered by the caretaker, who is up at the crack of dawn on special days to hoist the flag, returning at dusk to lower it.
The EU could learn a thing or two from attending our a.g.m. In the first place, it would see that, despite reputations for efficiency, people in this neck of the woods move slowly. They believe in gathering consensus, listening to opposing views and arriving at compromise before undertaking the smallest task.
Anybody who has worked in Scandinavia will be amazed at the amount of time spent in meetings, where every detail and possible outcome is discussed before even the smallest job is undertaken. Once started, however, the job is usually completed successfully, with few surprises along the way.
The EU might also learn from our a.g.m. that emblems of nationality, considered passé elsewhere, are still important here. The flag is just one.
In Denmark birthday presents will be wrapped in red and white paper, and special cakes made for New Year's Eve will have paper replicas of the flag all over them.
The monarchy is also important - the queen's speech is listened to by all on New Year's Eve. Even the currency, the kroner, is held with affection as a symbol of national identity.
This situation is similar in Sweden, where people will vote on the euro, and the EU project in general, tomorrow.
There have been accusations that the Yes vote has avoided real debate in favour of coercion - people are being put under pressure to vote Yes. The debate they are used to is absent. They say that scare tactics associated with EU referenda in Ireland and Denmark are being used there too.
Foremost among the accused is Mr Carl-Henric Svanberg, the Ericsson boss, who threatened in a newspaper article to relocate the telecommunication giant's headquarters if there was a No vote. The company employs 30,000 people in Sweden.
His article was co-written by Anna Lindh. Her murder will appear as the denial of the rights that people here hold dear - the right to have and express an opinion or political view, to be able to argue and disagree, to be well known but entitled to privacy. But mostly to be safe and respected as an individual.
There will be flags at half mast all over Scandinavia this weekend for this is a region unused to political conflict or public violence of any kind. Lindh was genuinely popular, and her death will hurt for a long time to come but it will not cause many to change their mind on the EU which has a long way still to go in Scandinavia.