Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Norway frustrated over relationship with EU

Non-EU member Norway is growing increasingly frustrated over its lack of influence over Brussels' decision making process, an internal document shows.

Oslo's interests are getting harder to defend, as the EU is expanding its competences beyond what the initial terms of the agreement regulating Norway's participation to the bloc's internal market covered, an internal note of the Norwegian ambassador in Brussels, obtained by Aftenposten, says.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Oslo wants to have more say in EU decisions (Photo: Wikipedia)

Norwegians rejected EU membership twice – in a first referendum held in 1972 and another one in 1994. Oslo joined the EU internal market and automatically adopts all legislation relating to it. It has a veto right over some areas, which it has never used.

Norwegian ambassador Oda Helen Sletnes, who wrote the report complains that her country cannot keep up with the EU's fast and continuous transformation.

In July, negotiations between Norway and the European Commission on the renewal of a funding scheme for the bloc's new member states worth over €1 billion failed to be concluded. The EU executive had hoped for a substantial top-up, while Oslo was looking at better conditions for its fisheries exports on the EU market – another file being negotiated with the commission.

A spokeswoman for the permanent representation of Norway in Brussels declined to comment directly on the document published by the Norwegian newspaper. She referred to the statements made by foreign minister Jonas Gahr Store in reaction to the article, who said it was a "challenge for Norway to relate to a EU that has grown both in size and in depth."

The so-called European Economic Area agreement (EEA) signed in 1994 between the EU and Norway was "static", he said, while the EU institutions were in "continuous development."

"Norway has nevertheless shown good capabilities in meeting these challenges," the minister added.

Magazine

Norway to renew regional aid for EU newcomers

Non-EU members Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are set to renew a five-year funding scheme of over €1 billion for energy, social and democracy projects in the bloc's poorest member states.

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  2. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  3. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  4. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  5. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  6. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  7. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  8. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us