Norway’s pro-EU voices sense their moment

OSLO — In a suburban restaurant outside the Norwegian capital, a handful of pro-Europe activists are trying to do something that has failed for decades: drag their country back into the EU debate.

Now, they may finally have an opening. But the catalyst for these discussions isn’t in Oslo. It’s in Reykjavik.

In August, Iceland will hold a referendum to decide on new accession negotiations with the EU, offering Norway a chance to put the issue back on its political agenda.

“We have this summer to reach a critical mass regarding the EU question,” said Trine Lise Sundnes, a Labor lawmaker and chair of the pro-EU European Movement — an association campaigning for Norway to join the bloc for 80 years now. Letting her gaze sweep across the restaurant, she added: “If we want to achieve that, we need every single one of you.”

Norway and Iceland enjoy a similar relationship with the bloc: Deeply integrated into the single market but without full membership — a position many of its citizens are happy with. But if Reykjavik were to pivot toward Brussels, it would not only affect established institutions and trade frameworks, it would leave Oslo much more isolated in its position than before. Norway’s pro-EU camp thinks this will provide a rare window of opportunity.

“If Iceland votes yes, it will also trigger a discussion in Norway about whether we should join,” said Sundnes in an interview with WELT — which, like POLITICO, is part of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network. “We must be ready.”

A different union

Norwegians have voted on accession twice before; both times, a narrow majority was against it. But much has changed since the last referendum was held more than 30 years ago. “The EU we discussed in 1994 no longer exists,” said Sundes.

A member of the European Economic Area (EEA), the Schengen Area and party to more than 100 bilateral agreements, Norway is already closely intertwined with the bloc in terms of economic policy. It pays hundreds of millions of euros in fees and contributions every year.

Recently, the bloc has become an important actor in other policy areas too, in response to crises like the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

There is a drawback to Norway’s situation, however. As a nonmember, it is not automatically part of the EU’s agreements but must laboriously negotiate admission into every single one. The country is also left out of customs issues — something that caused difficulties in trade disputes with the U.S., for example.

“We have lived well with the EEA Agreement for more than 30 years,” stated Sundnes. “But we are currently in the process of outgrowing it. It is no longer enough for the world we live in today.”

Alexander Fossen Lange sees things quite differently. He is sitting in the Nei til EU (No to the EU) association’s office in central Oslo, where a huge painting depicts an idyllic fjord landscape with EU politicians greedily helping themselves to a lavish buffet on a table draped with the Norwegian flag.

A salmon farm in Trondheim Fjord in Norway is pictured on June 19, 2025. | Jonathan Klein/AFP via Getty Images

When the 1994 referendum was held, Nei til EU had more than 100,000 members, mostly from trade unions and left-wing political parties. “I believe that played a major role in Norway voting against [it] back then. That is our proud history,” Lange said. The association has shrunk significantly since then, but it remains one of the loudest voices opposing new accession negotiations.

To EU or not to EU?

Anti-EU voices can be found on both the left and right side of the Norwegian political spectrum — albeit for different reasons.

Left of center, the main concerns are preserving Norway’s robust labor rights and protecting domestic agriculture and fisheries — currently neither are part of the EU agreements and are kept alive through enormous government subsidies. “Our agriculture is organized very decentrally, and we negotiate wages quite differently than in the EU,” said Lange. “Many things simply do not fit together.”

But for those in support of membership, these decades-old arguments have worn thin. “The task of politicians should be to look at society as a whole and examine what benefits we could derive from it,” said Mihajlo Samardzic, a board member of the European Movement’s youth organization who is active in the center-right Conservative Party.

Agriculture has lost importance recently anyway, said Samardzic. “And you could also see it from a different perspective: Norwegian farmers and fishermen would have a larger market to export to.”

Plus, he believes there is a more decisive argument to be made: More than 90 percent of EU laws already apply in Norway, yet the government is unable to influence the drafting process.

“When new directives come to Norway via the EEA Agreement, they are already fully drafted; there is nothing left to discuss,” Samardzic lamented. “If we had representatives in the EU institutions, we could influence how these regulations, which affect such large parts of our lives, are created.”

But the bloc itself has a democracy deficit, the anti-EU Lange argued in response — and Norway’s influence would be minor anyway: “We would only have 13 or 14 seats in the [European] Parliament out of a total of over 700. We wouldn’t have much to say.”

Meanwhile, to the right of the political spectrum, concerns about the surrender of sovereignty and national identity play a role. The right-wing Progress Party, which is currently leading the polls and is among the most vehement opponents of joining the EU, is also critical of the bloc’s increasingly comprehensive regulations.

“We want a close relationship with the EU,” Progress Party member and deputy spokesperson in the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense Himanshu Gulati told WELT. “But we also think that the EU should focus more on core issues like trade and competitiveness, instead of dealing with matters that member countries can certainly regulate themselves.”

There is no need for full membership to successfully cooperate with other European countries, Gulati said. “Our current arrangement is good enough.”

Third time’s the charm

“Good enough” is an assessment that can be heard repeatedly in Norway: The status quo is too comfortable for the vast majority to want to change anything.

Norwegian conservative leader Ine Eriksen Søreide attends the Armed Forces Remembrance Day in Oslo on Nov. 5, 2023. | Per Ole Hagen/Getty Images

Due to heightening geopolitical tensions and doubts about U.S. support within NATO, however, the EU has become an increasingly important security actor, said Fredrik Carstens, secretary general of the Liberal Party — a strong supporter of EU membership alongside the Green Party.

“We can no longer trust the U.S., maybe never again,” he stated. “And in the geopolitical situation we are currently in, it is very dangerous to stand alone. Norway is currently probably one of the most vulnerable countries in all of Europe.”

On this point, Conservative leader Ine Eriksen Søreide agrees. “In my opinion, and my party’s opinion, we would be best served by being full members of the EU,” she told POLITICO in March, declaring the distant relationship between Brussels and Oslo no longer fit for purpose.

For many Norwegians, though, this argument still seems far away. “It is a topic that voters are hardly interested in. They seem to be living in a bubble,” Carstens noted.

Indeed, according to polls, the majority in favor of joining the EU has grown only slightly over the years. But the proportion of those who are uncertain is growing larger and larger — particularly among young people.

The 22-year-old Samardzic is not surprised. “We were born after the last big EU debate. And in school, we learn virtually nothing about the EU,” he said. The European Movement wants to change this as well — and subsequently transform the debate from an emotional one to a more factual one.

Among the group’s most important goals for this summer: informing people about what Iceland joining the EU would mean for Norway.

“People here are satisfied with the EEA Agreement,” said chairwoman Sundnes. “But should Iceland drop out, only Norway and Liechtenstein would be left. That would fundamentally change the situation.” And to bring these questions to a broader public, the association is forging social and economic alliances, trying to shift the political dial.

But the governing Labor Party remains cautious. There is too much concern that a renewed debate could polarize Norwegians just as strongly as it did in 1994. “Back then, the fronts were very hardened,” said Sundnes, explaining her party’s reluctance. “But I think we cannot shrink back from a discussion just because it is difficult.”

The timing must be chosen with care too, she emphasized. If membership were rejected a third time, another chance would likely be lost for decades.

To that end, the two-stage vote in Iceland could serve as a model: Instead of voting on accession only at the end of the process, Icelanders will first be deciding whether negotiations should be resumed at all. And if the country gets a favorable deal, Sundnes hopes it could awaken the desire for new talks in Norway.

“For far too long, we have allowed the ‘no’ to determine the narrative on the EU question,” she said, concluding her speech at the small suburban Oslo dinner. “That must come to an end now.”

Lara Jäkel is a foreign policy reporter for WELT.

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