“Room for manoeuvre” for Norway!

Abstract

EEA membership on the EFTA side was not what the Norwegian elites had been hoping for. When Norwegian citizens for the second time—following the first rejection in 1973—repudiated EU membership in the referendum of 27 and 28 November 1994 with 52.2% of the votes against, based on a turnout of 88.6%, the ruling circles were shattered. Many of the Yes-people wanted to be part of the European project in an idealistic way and to participate in European cooperation in a more direct way than through the EEA Agreement.