>>514162812
>>514162412
You might say "But Norway & Sweden are different 'countries'/sovereign states" - well yes, but various nations in Scandinavia have been united under previous monarchies personal unions or imperial systems. Remember that european identities were formed before the concept of a "nation-state" where the people payed homage to individual families on and up the chain. If Norway leaves something like the Kalmar Union (Scandinavian "Sovereign State" centuries ago) it's still Norway, and when it joined that union it was still Norway. If Scotland voted for independence, and became a "sovereign state" in the realms of global politics, but then joined the EU, it would actually be very similar to how Norway & Sweden are both Scandinavian/Nordic, but Sweden is part of the EU and Norway not, in that hypothetical Scotland would be like Sweden in that it had given up some of its sovereign state-status to the EU which is obviously a factor which limits the sovereignty of its constituent members.
What might help is if you realise that it's not actually the case that Wales & Scotland & England & Northern Ireland are, say, "States" in the UK. It's actually the other way around - the STATE is the "UK". It's just there is only one state, we are not a set of united states. The US is closer to the EU in that sense. But due to the sheer length of time we've been a settled physical landmass and the various (slow) migrations over the thousands of years its been inhabited, the separate peoples have coalesced into a few different specific ethnicities that are their own nations, and due to late medieval/early modern history now form part of the same sovereign state.