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Benefit is equal access to Common Market as an EU member.
by anthonybennis 6y ago
Benefit is equal access to Common Market as an EU member.
- that_guy_iain 6y agoSorry, I meant benefit of EEA over EU membership.
- thefounder 6y agoThey have some "special rights" on natural resources. i.e oil, fishery. I think the EU will close that loophole soon.
- xyproto 6y agoAlso, EU has a ruleset adapted to the climate of central Europe and not to cold places where almost no food grows and eating seals and fighting polar bears is how you stay alive. This is an extreme example, but Norway is more dependent on fish for sustenance than many other countries.
- ginko 6y ago> eating seals and fighting polar bears is how you stay alive Your image of Norway may be a bit off.. It's true though that Norway is overly protective of its food industry. And arguably for good reason since it wouldn't be competitive at all if integrated with the rest of Europe.
- vidarh 6y agoAs a Norwegian, I do like the idea that foreigners see me as capable of fighting a polar bear. As for seals, I've eaten seal, I think, but it's hardly been a dietary mainstay... We used to have whale regularly when I was a kid, mostly because back then it was much cheaper than beef (and much tougher, and oily... it was not great meat - it's expensive now due to low supply and nostalgia).
- xyproto 6y agoI am Norwegian, apparently I just didn't express myself clearly enough.
- vidarh 6y agoNorway is dependent on fish mostly because of the export value. A lot of fish is eaten in Norway, sure but the Norwegian economy is such that local production has very little to do with what people choose to eat. The only place in Norway Polar bears live is Svalbard, far North of the mainland. Most Norwegians have never visited because it's far away (a 1h 40m flight North from Tromsø in Northern Norway - similar to how long it takes to fly South to Central Europe from Oslo) and way too cold and miserable. Seal is something few people eat very often. A huge proportion of the population will never ever have tasted it. Like whale, it's uncommon these days.
- Majestic121 6y agoIs there any reason for the EU to close that loophole now ? It seems to be a pretty good partnership so far, and I did not read anything about a will from either side to change anything about it yet, but I might be misinformed
- kristofferR 6y agoIt's pretty stupid to call it a loophole at all. It's like calling the Xbox Series S a next-gen gaming loophole.
- vidarh 6y agoThey can't "close that loophole". It's an integral part of the EEA treaty. If the EU withdraws from the EEA treaty it would virtually guarantee that support for EU membership in Norway would sink like a rock out of sheer anger. It would lead to Norway withdrawing further from the EU, not joining, so it'd be entirely counterproductive.
- olavgg 6y agoThis is true, Norway and Switzerland are strong economies that can stay outside EU. Norway have a lot of oil compared to the number of people who lives there, which makes Norway a more independent economy than for example UK. I do think Norway would benefit by becoming a full EU member. But there are also good reasons not to. So the EEA treaty is the best of both worlds. Norway lose and gain some.
- kristofferR 6y agoNot having to adopt the Euro is also a "special right". It's not well known, but all EU countries are required to adopt the Euro (except for Denmark who have a real opt-out). The countries who haven't are using a loophole to bypass the requirement of Euro adoption, by purposefully failing to fulfill some standards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_the_eurozone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_the_eurozone
- martin8412 6y agoFor Norway the reason is fish. Since they're not in the EU, they don't have to allow others access to fish in their waters.
- xyproto 6y agoIt's tragicomic that this was part of the reason for Brexit, but they ended up with letting other countries fish in their waters anyways.
- josefx 6y agoWeren't pretty much all the reasons for Brexit bullshit from the start? I heard that some politicians even gave nonsensical statements in more recent interviews so that searches for various keywords would hit those instead of the original Brexit promises.
- gridder 6y agoAnd can fish without any external limit. See the pilot whales hunt in the faroe islands: https://youtu.be/ws99HlPBySA https://youtu.be/ws99HlPBySA
- vidarh 6y agoThe Faroe islands are not Norwegian, and Norway does not allow hunt of pilot whales. EDIT: That's not to say Norway doesn't still do whaling, but quotas are only for minke whales. Of a quota of 1278 for 2019, 429 where caught. But pilot whales explicitly still do not meet the conditions required (size of population etc.) for Norway to allow hunt.
- detaro 6y agoand agriculture (and agriculture subsidies).
- vidarh 6y agoThis is a big one for Norway as food security has been a big strategic focus for Norway ever since the British naval blockade against Denmark-Norway during the Napoleonic wars, reaffirmed by the hardships during the Nazi occupation. It's still largely politically untenable in Norway to oppose agriculture subsidies.
- izacus 6y agoI think both EEA members could negotiate carve-outs where the EU rules don't hold for them and they keep certain privileges. E.g. Switzerland can still have customs and charge customs charges on some items.