Free Republic

Eurozone failures mean Iceland should stay out of the EU, its prime minister told EU Observer. She would also quit NATO if she had her say. “I don’t think we should enter the EU right now. I don’t think there is any reason to apply,” Katrin Jakobsdottir said in an interview with this website, as Iceland’s new government prepared to celebrate its first anniversary in power. “Personally, I’m critical towards the economic policies of the EU — the creation of the eurozone without any real centralized policies on taxes or fiscal policies,” she said. “The European Central Bank has become...

The United States has confirmed plans to more double the number of troops based in Norway, a move Russia has already criticized as “clearly unfriendly”. The Norwegian Defense Ministry on Wednesday said that the US had recently informed them that they would push forward with a plan to increase the number of US marines stationed in Norway from 300 to “up to 700”. […] When the plans were first floated in June, Russia’s embassy to Norway complained that they contravened assurances Norway gave the Soviet Union when it joined NATO in 1949 that no foreign combat troops would be stationed...

The percentage of GDP spent by Norway on defense has decreased, despite NATO obligations for member countries to increase spending in the area to two percent by 2024. The reduction in spending was reported by newspaper VG on Thursday. Defense minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said in a written response to a parliamentary question that government spending on defense would reach 1.56 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. It will then fall further to 1.5 percent in 2020 and remain at that level until 2024, according to the report. […] According to NATO’s own figures, Norway spent 1.59 percent of...

Norwegian Justice Minister Anders Anundsen said on Thursday that the EU must allow Norway to continue with its temporary border controls for as long as the nation deems them necessary. When the ministers of justice of the EU and the four EFTA countries meet in Luxembourg on Thursday, Anundsen will ask for the green light to keep Norway’s controls in place. “I think it’s important that we have the opportunity to continue with internal border controls as long as we believe it is necessary,” Anundsen said. Norway is one of five Schengen countries that have introduced border controls in the...

Britain wanted to create a formal task force to work with Norway on a post-Brexit free trade agreement, but the Norwegian rejected the overture according to a new report. Business daily Dagens Næringsliv reported that the UK’s international trade secretary, Liam Fox, lobbied his Norwegian counterpart, Minister of Trade and Industry Monica Mæland, for Norway to join the United Kingdom in establishing a task force to prepare a new trade agreement for when the Brits formally leave the EU. But when Fox’s request was relayed to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, it was rejected. According to Dagens Næringsliv, the ministry’s director...

For the first time since the mid 1990s, Norway’s expenditures have exceeded state revenues. Figures released by Statistics Norway (SSB) on Tuesday show that the state’s total revenues in the second quarter of this year totaled 328 billion kroner, which is 2.3 percent less than in the same quarter of last year. […] “Reduced income from petroleum taxes and reduced surplus from the State’s Direct Financial Interest in petroleum activities (SDFI) account largely for the continued decrease in total revenue in Q2 2016,” SSB wrote. …

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble warned Friday that if Britain voted to leave the European Union, it wouldn’t have access to the single market like non-members Norway and Switzerland do. “That won’t work,” the veteran minister told Germany’s Der Spiegel weekly, which on Saturday plans to publish a German-English edition at home and in Britain with “Please don’t go!” on the cover. “That would require the country to follow the rules of a club which right now it wants to leave.” […] Schäuble warned that a Brexit could spark contagion in the EU, according to excerpts of the interview due...

Good advice not just for national policy but for life in general: If you find yourself in the company of someone who needs it carefully explained to them that rape is wrong, you’re probably better off not trying to cultivate that acquaintance.Actual quote from a supervisor at the asylum center offering the course: With training, new arrivals will "at least know the difference between right and wrong." As a Twitter pal said, what would the “precautionary principle” tell us to do about immigration in a situation like this? A course manual sets out a simple rule that all asylum...

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, according to an EU report to be published later this year. … Moreover, the EU also dislikes the fact that Norway has rejected several directives coming from Brussels. The Norwegian government has for example warned it won’t implement the EU’s postal directive about competitiveness for letter mail weighing less than 50 grams. … (Denmark MEP Bendt) Bendtsen said the problems in the EU-Norway relations could eventually affect the...