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Bloomberg
Kicking off the year in a T-shirt proclaiming that she “loves, loves the EEA,†Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide hinted at the high-stakes fight that’s brewing in Norway over its relationship with the European Union.
Soreide’s show of passion comes 25 years after Norway linked itself to the EU in a free-trade deal as part of the European Economic Area, a compromise solution after voters in a referendum rejected joining the bloc.
But the deal that gives Norway unfettered access to Europe’s massive free-trade bloc is increasingly being derided and has come under legal attack from EU skeptics and labor unions who are questioning its impact on wages, labor laws and sovereignty. As of yet, it’s a faint echo of the Brexit process that’s currently tearing at the fabric of the UK.
“It’s very important that we are out there defending it, and tell how enormously important it’s to safeguard Norwegian interests,†Soreide said in an interview in Oslo.
Union ‘Unease’
While securing access to the EU’s inner market and free movement for Norwegians, the deal also forces the country to accept a free flow of workers and to adopt many EU laws it has little influence over. Norway has kept agriculture and fisheries outside of the deal, and isn’t a member of the
customs union.