![]() The Swiss also pay into the EU budget but less than the Norwegians. These require Switzerland to follow EU law in the areas that give it access to the EU market. ![]() Its deal rests on some 120 separate bilateral agreements, many of which Switzerland started to negotiate after it rejected EEA membership in 1992. Switzerland has a slightly more remote relationship with the EU. However, as a signatory to the agreement, it does have a say in how it operates. As a result, Norway has higher per capita immigration than the UK. The UK has more control over its borders than Norway, which is part of the Schengen border-free area. ![]() The thinktank Open Europe estimates that the UK would pay 94% of its current costs (£31.4bn annually) if it left the EU but adopted a Norway-type arrangement. In 2012, Norway was paying €340m (£245m) a year into the EU budget – the tenth-highest contributor. The country has been granted participation rights, but no voting rights, in several of the union’s programmes, bodies and initiatives, including the European Defence Agency, Frontex, Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Norway has representatives in EU institutions, but they have no decision-making power in how EU rules are drafted. As a result, Norway has had to implement about three-quarters of all EU legislation, including the working time directive. In return for that access Norway is obliged to implement all the EU’s laws relating to the internal market. Iceland and Liechtenstein are also members of the EEA. What does membership of the European Economic Area provide?ĮEA membership gives Norway full access to the EU’s internal market, allowing it to trade goods with EU states without customs fees, except food and drinks which are subsidised by the EU. ![]() ![]() Whether or not the country should apply for full membership has been one of the most dominant and divisive issues in modern Norwegian political debate.Īfter two referendums, the first in 1972 and the second in 1994, which both ended in marginal victories for the no side, Norway has negotiated a semi-detached relationship with the EU through its membership of the European Economic Area. Norway’s trade is dominated by the EU, and Norway is the trading bloc’s fifth most important import partner. Britain would have access to the single market but it would have no vote over EU rules. You might call it the “nearly but not quite” model for EU membership. ![]()
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