Called No to the EU, the survey questioned the top candidates on the political party lists, reported Nationen newspaper.
Some 84 MPs expressed their thoughts on “Do you think Norway will become a member of the EU?” of which 38 replied “yes”, 12 said they were unsure, and 35 gave no reply. Based on the figures, the pollsters concluded that the majority of the 169 representatives were EU opponents.
“We are excited that we finally have a survey that reflects what the people think,” Kathrine Kleveland, No to the EU leader, said. The group conducting the survey has measured parliamentary representatives’ views on the EU regularly since 1994, and for the first time there a parliamanetary majority was opposed to joining the EU.
The leader of the European Movement, Jan Erik Grindheim, said he was “very disappointed”.
“It’s very sad, because the EU is needed more than ever. Nationalism is on the rise, and if everyone were against the EU, there’d not be peace in Europe”, Grindheim complained.
During the recent Norwegian election, more EU-style centralisation was firmly rejected, with the party most critical of the country’s European Economic Area agreement winning the most seats.
The Centre Party, led by Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, nearly doubled their representatives from 10 to 18 seats. When it comes to the EEA, Vedum said: “We think the EEA transfers too much power from the Norwegian Parliament, which can be ousted in elections, to a bureaucracy that cannot be ousted in elections.”
Thus a clear majority of MP’s are against a referendum on the EEA agreement. They also want Norway to use the right to veto in the EEA more actively.
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