No to the European Union!  This is quite a popular expression in Norway, so popular that someone spray painted it onto a rock far off the northwestern coast of Norway.  I saw it from the Hurtigruten.  Although graffiti in Norway is not as prevalent as it is in Germany, “Nei til EU” has certainly made it’s presence on structures all over the country.

Why do Norwegians not want to be part of the EU?  It’s complicated.  Norway is a member of the EEA (European Economic Area).  In 1963, Norway and the United Kingdom applied for membership to the EEC (European Economic Community) and were approved in 1972.  However, after a popular referendum, the majority of Norwegians voted against it.  In 1992 Norway became a memeber of the EEA.  Upon learning what Norway puts into the EU and the little it gets out, many foreigners wonder why in the world Norway doesn’t want to be a part of the EU.  Norway pays around 240 million Euros annually to the EU budget, but receives nothing in return. 

The first obvious answer is that Norway simply has the money.  Norway has the money to buy into this kind of membership without receiving any sort of monetary benefit.  Because of the annual dues that Norway pays, it is able to be a part of EU agreements.  For example, Norway is part of the Schengen Agreement, which essentially makes it easier for Europeans to travel freely within Europe’s borders.  The agreement allows Europeans to simply drive slowly through border controls, assuming the car is marked with a green disk, the sign that the people in the car come from a country in Europe that is part of the Schengen Agreement. 

Norway is also part of Europol, a European criminal intelligence agency, in addition to Eurojust, a European system designed to enhance cross-border judicial cooperation concerning organized crime.  Several other arrangements that Norway belongs to include the EMCDDA (European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Additction, Frontex, a European border control agency, the European Defense Agency, and others.

As for the reason Norway has not chosen to be a full member of the EU.  Four reasons:  popular power, solidarity, environment, and free commerce.  I believe that deep down it is national pride the keeps Norway out of the EU.  Norway did not become an independent, sovereign nation until 1905.  Since the sixteenth centuryy, Norway was ruled by neighboring countries.  It is still a relatively new country in terms of independence.  After the great oil reserves discovered off the coast, which made the creation of the welfare state possible, Norwegians are simply not ready to give up this sort of wealth and freedom.  They do not want the rest of Europe to determine the political, cultural, and economic fate of their country.  Understandably so in my opinion.  What do you all think??