Norway and its impact on the European Union: the Internal Energy Market and the licensing and gas directives.

Abstract: This work is meant to provide theoretical and empirical elements in order to understand the current situation of Norway which given the chance to be part of the European Union (EU) has rejected it twice. However it does not mean that this European country is totally isolated from the integration process. Since 1960 they are part of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) organisation founded by several European countries, which left it in order to be part of the EU. Since 1994 three from the four EFTA states (Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein excluding Switzerland, which decided not to be part of it) signed the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement which links them to the EU. The EEA agreement allows all the twenty-eight countries (the now twenty-five from the EU and three from EFTA) access to an Internal Market governed by the same rules. Nevertheless the position of the EFTA states is asymmetrical compared to the EU states, given the fact that in the creation of the legislation for such common market, the former countries can participate in the early stages of the policy making as ?policy shapers? but cannot be decision-makers. This does not mean that they have to accept all EU legislation adapting their national legislation; they have the right to veto and can have some influence in informal ways as well, particularly if the policy in question is considered of national interest. In this case, the Internal Energy Market and its policies are very relevant, provided that Norway is a country rich in natural resources and energy. Here two controversial directives will be presented as examples of Norway as negotiator in the framework of the EEA agreement and the impact they had in the final outcome.