New agreement on EEA financial mechanisms signed today

“Agreement has now been reached between the Norwegian and the Russian negotiating delegations on the bilateral maritime delimitation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean, said Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. “This is a historic day. We have reached a breakthrough in the most important outstanding issue between Norway and the Russian Federation,” said Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Norway is one of very few western European countries not to be a member of the European Union. Norway has held a referendum on the issue of EU membership twice, first in 1972 and then again in 1994. On both occasions, a rather narrow majority of the Norwegian population rejected membership (in 1994, 52% were against and 48% were in favour).

Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein have agreed with the European Union on new financial contributions for the period 2009-14. The beneficiary states of the EEA Grants will be the 12 most recent EU members plus Greece, Portugal and Spain. The Norway Grants are earmarked for the 12 newest members. The priority sectors include environmental protection, renewable energy, carbon capture and storage.