SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATIONS: Norwegian ambassador Oda Sletnes (right) signed the agreed minutes of the negotiations with her colleagues from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Bulgaria and Romania on Thursday the 29th of March. Photo: Erlend Engh Brekke/Mission of Norway to the EU
"It is with great pleasure that I confirm that we have arrived at a mutually beneficial agreement for all parties to the negotiations on enlargement of the European Economic Area. The agreement provides a solid basis for deepened political and economic cooperation with the new member states of the European Union, and ensures access for Norwegian fish exports to rapidly growing markets," Norwegian ambassador to the EU Ms. Oda Sletnes said Thursday, after signing agreed minutes from the negotiations.
Signatories to the agreement were ambassadors of the three member countries of both the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), i.e. Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, as well as their counterparts from the new EU member states Bulgaria and Romania and representatives of the European Commission, which deals with trade issues on behalf of EU member states.
Bilateral cooperation
Under the new agreement Norway will contribute a total of €68 million in bilateral cooperation programmes with the new member states Bulgaria and Romania during the next two years, of which Bulgaria will receive some €20 million while Romania will receive some €48 million. These bilateral programmes are a new feature compared to the existing EEA Financial Mechanism, and will be coordinated by Norway.
The programmes will seek to promote economic and social development in the two recipient countries, with a special emphasis on innovation and technology transfer. They will be restricted to a select few sectors where Bulgaria and/or Romania have particular needs and Norway has relevant expertise, such as energy or environmental matters. At the request of Bulgaria and Romania the programmes will also cover the health sector as well as Schengen and Justice and Home Affairs.
“These design of these programmes is a novelty to which we attach great hopes” Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in a statement on Thursday.
The new programmes will to the greatest extent possible be targeted at projects involving Norwegian as well as Bulgarian and/or Romanian partners. In addition to the public and private sectors, NGOs will be eligible for funding through these programmes.
The EEA Financial Mechanism
In addition to bilateral programmes, a total of €72 million will be channelled through the EEA Financial Mechanism. Norway being the larger of the three EEA EFTA states, the country will contribute €67.8 million of this sum. The total Norwegian contribution over the two-year period covered by the agreement will amount to €135,8 million.
Projects dealing with themes ranging from environmental protection, sustainable development or health and child welfare to the preservation of the European cultural heritage or the development of human resources will be eligible for funding through the EEA Financial Mechanism framework.
The agreement furthermore allows for the same transitory measures found in the accession treaties of Bulgaria and Romania with the EU. This concerns above all the free movement of persons, where the EFTA members of the EEA may maintain certain restrictions on workers from the two new member states.
The agreement, which runs from the 1st of January 2007 to the 30th of April 2009, will enter into force once all the signatory parties have completed their requisite internal procedures. In the case of Norway, this implies approval by the country’s legislature, the 169-member Storting.
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS