EU AND NORWAY

The Centre for European Studies (CES) and the Høyre Study Centre organised this year’s series of seminars on ‘Norway and the EU’. This past year has seen an increase in activity in this area. Well-attended seminars have been held all over Norway. This is very important because the events organised jointly by Aften Skolen and CES are almost the only ones that put EU matters on the table.

Norway is not a member of the EU as the population has twice voted ‘no’ in referenda. The main reason for this is that they are insufficiently informed about the EU, but our events have significantly increased their levels of knowledge. When Iceland applied for EU membership, the risk increased that Norway would be the only Nordic country outside the EU, a situation that would be very difficult for Norway.

The seminars focused on people who are already favourably disposed towards Europe and on having them convince others to adopt a more positive outlook. The seminars featured top speakers who are all experts on EU related matters.

CES and Aften Skolen have worked hard to arrange a series of dynamic seminars in an effort to facilitate meaningful dialogue with Norwegian citizens on European issues and the benefits of EU membership. CES and Aften Skolen are committed to continuing this effort, as the discussion nurtured in these seminars remains to be the loudest pro-EU voice in the country.

More than a dozen seminars have been organised with different themes and have had between 50 and 300 participants.