Survey: Norway’s next parliament could be strongly opposed to the country’s EU membership

The organization “No to the EU” has asked a number of parliamentary candidates about EU and EEA issues. Never before have so many declared themselves as opposed to EU membership.

Basing the parliamentary elections and the distribution of seats on Norstat’s May-June poll for NRK, “No to the EU” has looked at EU and EEA attitudes of the new Storting.

Can block membership attempts

As many as 53.8% of the candidates said “no” to EU membership, 27.8% answered “yes,” while 18.3% were either unsure or did not answer.

“The survey shows that an application for EU membership in the coming parliamentary term won’t be relevant. Although there is hardly any current policy (that points in that direction), there will be enough opposing representatives to block any attempt for Norway to join the EU,” leader of “No to the EU” Roy Pedersen told news bureau NTB.

The proportion of “no-candidates” increases by 4% since the same survey was conducted in 2017 and by 22% since 2013.

The survey also shows that the EEA-critical part of the Storting could be strengthened.

“Compared with 2013, there are twice as many parliamentary representatives who are against the EEA. We also see an increasing number of parliamentary representatives willing to use the right of reservation or veto on new EU directives,” Roy Pedersen added.

More support veto

He noted that candidates from clear “yes” parties are now more likely to vote against EU directives. 

Pedersen pointed out that the Labor Party (AP) voted against the EU railway directive. The organization has also asked the representatives of the Storting about their attitudes to EU directives.

“Here, for example, the Conservatives also say that they are against an EU directive to introduce a statutory minimum wage in Norway,” Roy Pedersen told NTB.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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