Norway’s love letter to the EU

In new strategy paper, Oslo stresses benefits of close ties.

Norwegian voters have twice rejected joining the EU — in referendums in 1972 and 1994 — but along with other members of the EEA (Iceland and Lichtenstein), Norway has access to the EU's single market | Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

Don’t worry, EU, somebody still loves you.

While Brexit, Donald Trump and Italy’s soon-to-be populist government may have some in Brussels feeling down, the Norwegian government has published a 26-page love letter extolling the benefits of membership in the European Economic Area (EEA) and other cooperation with the bloc.

“The EEA Agreement helps to ensure economic security and predictability,” Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide wrote in the introduction to the “strategy for cooperation with the EU,” adding “it is vital for the Norwegian business sector, for Norwegian jobs and for our ability to maintain a sustainable welfare society.”

Norwegian voters have twice rejected joining the EU — in referendums in 1972 and 1994 — but along with other members of the EEA (Iceland and Liechtenstein), Norway has access to the EU’s single market, and its citizens are entitled to EU benefits such as freedom of movement. Britain has ruled out joining the EEA and wants its own bespoke arrangement instead.

The Norwegian government, however, says its relationship with Brussels serves the country’s own interests quite well. And the government’s new strategy highlights its desire not only to strengthen and build on its ties with the EU but also to emphasize the benefits to citizens.

Some sections of the government’s strategy paper seem intended to stress the benefits that the U.K. is giving up by leaving the EU and rejecting membership of the EEA.

“Without labor from other EEA countries, many Norwegian businesses would come to a standstill; without access to the internal market and a level playing field in the EEA, the Norwegian export industry would suffer,” Søreide wrote.

“Under the EEA Agreement, Norwegian citizens have opportunities they could not have dreamed of in the past, when Norway only had a classic trade agreement with the EU. Many Norwegians make use of their rights under the Agreement to cross borders, live, work, invest, and study in other EEA countries. Younger generations take these opportunities for granted.”

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg will be in Brussels on June 5 for a POLITICO Playbook interview, in which she will address what lessons her country can offer a post-Brexit Britain.

Setting out the stall

The strategy paper, presented at a meeting this week of the EEA Council, is effectively a new edition of Norway’s Europe policy, updated for the second mandate of Solberg’s center-right government, which won reelection last fall.

“We want to see an orderly Brexit” — Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide

Søreide, the foreign minister, told POLITICO that Oslo has taken notice of a recent move by the EU to strengthen partnership programs on numerous issues, particularly security and defense but also on climate change and the environment, and that Norway is keen to be part of the action.

“There are so many areas now where we see Europe kind of straightening its back a bit, and assuming a greater responsibility and that’s also something that we want to be a part of,” she said. “This is our Continent. This is our part of the world, even though we are not an EU member, we want to be part of the developments. We want to take responsibility for the developments and we want to have an opinion on where we want to see Europe going.”

The strategy paper, which covers 2018 to 2021, also notes some areas where Norway plans to push for more favorable trading terms, especially for Norwegian seafood, a major export and which is currently still subject to EU tariffs.

The aim is to ensure maximum possible duty-free access to the EU market for Norwegian seafood,” the paper states.

UK warning

In what might be cautionary advice for the U.K. as it builds its own “future relationship” with Brussels, Søreide said that Norway has to work harder because of its outsider status to stay on top of developments in the EU.

“What we see now is an organization, an institution, picking up speed and we need to make sure we are on board with all of those developments,” she said. “And since we are not a full member we have to work a little differently than other countries.

As part of its EU program, Norway is also pushing for Brussels to put greater focus on “cross-border crime related to employment,” which officials said can include an array of issues from money laundering to undeclared workers.

“It is definitely one of those issues that cannot be tackled by countries alone. So we have to work together,” Søreide said.

On Brexit, she said Norway is strongly supportive of the EU position on the integrity of the single market, and that it is hoping for a successful conclusion to the negotiations between Brussels and London. EU officials have stated repeatedly that they must take into account the bloc’s agreements with other partners and that any deal with Britain cannot devalue those other arrangements.

“We want to see an orderly Brexit,” Søreide said. “I think that’s beneficial for the U.K., for the EU, for all of us who are aligned with this process in one way or the other. And secondly, we are very mindful of keeping the single market preserved with its full integrity … it’s very important for us that we do not see tendencies where countries can pick and choose from what they would like from the single market.”

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