Norway must reconsider the EU question in the “crazy world” of the USA and China, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Labour Party) told the Financial Times on Sunday.
When Norway said no to the EU in two referendums in 1972 and 1994, it was largely about fisheries and agriculture, Barth Eide told the British financial newspaper, one of the most influential in the world. The Foreign Minister chose to emphasise that the two political processes were so divisive that they even destroyed families.
Brussels now sees hope that Norway – with a well-filled state treasury and vast energy resources, much of what the EU lacks – will view the Union as a security guarantee in a dangerous world.
Eide acknowledged that the “peaceful world” that existed when the two referendums on EU membership were held has been replaced by a “crazy world” that is forcing Oslo to reconsider its relationship with the bloc.
At the first referendum in 1972, the Cold War was under way, when the world feared a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the USA. By the time of the second referendum, the Soviet Union had been dissolved.
“Thirty years later, the peaceful world is gone, and we must be honest that we are in a more difficult situation,” he said. “The parts of the EU that we decided not to join are becoming increasingly important.”
When Barth Eide presents it as though “we” joined unspecified parts of the EU, he is referring to the EEA Agreement (EØS-avtalen), which was concluded by the Brundtland government and entered into force regardless of the outcome of the 1994 referendum.
The Foreign Minister points out that the “tools” the EU uses in relation to the USA and China are something Norway also needs:
“This crazy world out there, with what is happening between China and the USA, is forcing the EU to draw tools from a toolbox that has not been used very much,” he said, referring to trade policy and the customs union. “Precisely those tools we chose not to join.”
The USA’s interest in Greenland is interpreted as a threat to Norway’s security and sovereignty over Svalbard:
Norway is a member of NATO, but Trump’s attempts to assert control over Greenland – a semi-autonomous territory belonging to NATO ally Denmark – have raised fears in Oslo about the American security guarantees that have underpinned the continent’s defence since the Second World War. Norway is also concerned about the future of Svalbard, the Arctic island that Russia has designs on.
It is not necessarily the right time to advocate a Norwegian referendum on the EU now, the Foreign Minister says.
Barth Eide’s statement in the Financial Times was given on Sunday to the newspaper’s Brussels correspondent Mari Nøvik, a Norwegian journalist. This raises questions about how he considers it appropriate to communicate with the public regarding Norway and the EU.