15 January 2014

'Norway model not for you', PM Solberg warns UK; Finland slams Britain's EU opt-out agenda

Norway's people voted against joining the European Union when the country held a referendum in 1994, and it is instead a member of the EEA, giving it access to the single European market in return for adopting many of the regulations made in Brussels. 

Erna Solberg, who is coming to the UK for the first since she became prime minister last year, said staying out of the EU but within the single market gave her country even less chance to set the rules. "I don't believe that Great Britain, with its old empire mind-set, should consider becoming a member of an organisation which basically means that laws and rules which are made in other countries are implemented directly", she told NTB newswires. "I do not think that's a realistic thing right now."

Norway is often cited by eurosceptics as an example of a successful European state choosing to stay out of the EU, but Solberg suggested the picture in her country is far less rosy than is sometimes suggested. "I think those in the British debate who look at Norway's association underestimate how closely connected we actually are with many of the laws and rules they are annoyed with", she said.

She also made it clear that it was in Norway's interests for Britain to stay in the EU, where it could provide a brake on pushes towards further integration. "We are better served if there are countries in the EU who are concerned that should not be a fast train but instead want to ensure that the cooperation we already have today works better", she said.

Full article © The Local - Norway's news in English

Further reporting © Politics.co.uk

“We don’t believe in an à-la-carte Europe -- you can’t pick and choose where you participate", Finland's Europe Minister Alexander Stubb said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. “Any kind of fundamental opt-outs from the European treaties by any Member State should be a last resort and we’re very sceptical about them.”

Stubb said the British government was using European politics to divert attention away from domestic issues. “I think that in the long run that doesn’t usually work", he said. “I’m actually quite surprised and disappointed by the debate in the UK right now because I’ve always seen the UK as a champion of freedom, a champion of liberalisation of the internal market, as a champion of free trade and as a champion of enlargement."

Britain’s debate resembles “pub politics", said Stubb. “I understand that after a few pints people start huffing and puffing about foreigners, about free movement. I simply do not think that’s a viable policy in the long run.”

Full article © Bloomberg