So the spotlight on Norway continues, bringing to light this review of the functioning of the EEA. It was issued in Brussels on 7 December last year by the European Commission and, but for events, would have remained (for us) just another one of the thousands of documents pumped out by the EU each year, for which there simply isn't time to read.

This one, mercifully, is only seventeen pages, and even then we get a helpful summary in EurActiv, telling us that Norway is failing to live up to its obligations as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), including imposing extra taxes on EU products and not implementing more than 400 directives.

In the report, Norway is also being criticised for imposing tariffs on EU products from 2013 and resisting "EU efforts for ambitious liberalisation" of the EU's single market. Complains the Commission: "This situation might thus lead to competitive advantages for operators based in the EEA-EFTA countries, and more fundamentally risks undermining the legal certainty and homogeneity of the single market".

View full article here

It takes two to tango. If the EU leaders and media stopped pretending that Norway was a fax democracy Norway's self interest would be there for all to see.

Is Norway dismissed as a fax democracy, apart from strictly for the benefit of the UK audience?

It looks as if Norway and Switzerland are a definite stone in the shoe of The Colleagues and they are being pressured to come within the fold.

With the UK out of the EU and likely finding common cause with Norway and Switzerland the stone would be a lot bigger.

I'd say it was the nature of baloney, which is statements put out to get people to believe something and act in a certain way, not a position to be analysed. Analysis is fatal as it rapidly shows that accepting the baloney requires two mutually exclusive things to be true at once. What's at the bottom of it is a political intention and the words are just a way to force that. It's a bit like advertising, they rarely extend a rational argument as to why you should buy their product, it's assertion and attempting to associate it with desirable things.

I'm not sure it's even self-delusion. I doubt Cameron knows, or wants to know, much about the EU apart from that he doesn't want us to leave. The Norway lack of influence stuff is just something he has to say.

Back in the days when there was a prospect of the UK joining the Euro, we were told the GBP was too small to survive on its own. What about the Danish Krone? That's too small to matter, so the same arguments don't apply.

I think what's behind this is that TPTB want us to remain in the EU, mainly for private and venal reasons. The Norway fax democracy claptrap sounds pretty good and it's one of their best shots, so it can't be abandoned. The killer is that on a superficial comparison, there's nothing wrong with Norway, and there are a plenty of EU states in a serious condition.

At least we know what our target is.

The essence of this situation and why there's so much publicity about Swiss and Norwegian non compliance is the eu cannot tolerate nations being associated but not subsumed, making a sucess of thier nations finances, it defies the intent. It poses a future that's not on message. One that other nations could be attracted to. That same situation apart from our financial contribution, is the basis for the eu to want the UK to remain.

Is there such a jurnal as EurRadioActiv?

Silly post, I know but couldn't resist.