 With the rise in cross border divorce in the EU, common rules were put forward to settle the issue of where and under which law trans-national couples can divorce in the EU.However Sweden blocked the new rules, fearing their impact on the applicability of its liberal divorce law (divorce law differs strongly, with Nordic liberalism being in contrast to more conservative countries with more complicated procedures such as Malta which has only recently permitted it).In order to allow those willing states to proceed without Sweden, in July 2008 nine countries put forward a proposal to use enhanced cooperation