Hey Norway, is it true that you didn't join the EU because

Mostly agriculture and fishing, yes, but also petroleum. EU would have more control over who we exported oil and gas to if we were in the EU, outside EU we can make our own trade agreements.

>>72223556
Don't you sell your oil to EU countries anyway?
And I heard that the food is very expensive in Norway because you have high tariffs on imported food

>>72223456
fuck off.

We voted against it twice because we actually value national sovereignty.

Stop meddling with other countries.

>>72223661
Yes, almost all petroleum goods are exported to UK, NL, Germany, France and other Nordics. It might matter now that UK is leaving though.

Food is very expensive from an outside point of view, but not that exceptionally expensive if you compare it to the wages here. Imported food is heavily taxed to work as a protective barrier to prevent farmers from the EU to be able compete with Norwegian grown food.

Farmers are very heavily subsidized here compared to the rest of EU, I doubt they would make it in the union. It's very expensive to grow food here as barely any % of the country is arable.

I don't necessarily agree with everything we do regarding the agriculture, but I think it's important that we're at least not entirely dependent on imports.

>>72223801
>country roleplaying
Pure fucking cancer

>>72223860
I just dont really see the point of subsidizing your farmers so heavily if they cant compete and you could have food much cheaper.
Basically, your society is paying such a high tax for the wellbeeing of farmers.

>>72223947
In case shit hits the fan, you know?

>>72223947
This country was built by farmers and fishermen, it's a huge part of our national identity.

Without farmers the countryside dies.

>>72223995
In that case you are reliant on EU/USA anyway, if by "shit hits the fan" you mean Russia

>>72224000
Well, culture changes overtime. Imagine if all those farmers and fishers were employed in other occupations where they could be actually productive

>>72224066
I undertand this discussion will continue in circles, so about time I take my leave.

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220KB, 1017x1149px

>>72223456
>>72223661
>>72223947
>>72224066
fuck off

>>72223947
without farmers, no countryside. Basically everyone has to move to the cities, which turns too big, and then turns into lots of poor suburbs with high crime rates.

When people stop living in rural areas, they aren't maintained anymore, which means the urbanites can't enjoy trips out of the cities either. No more hiking, hunting, or any nature activities, which is a huge part of our culture.

Also, if the shit hits the fan, it helps to be able to produce our own food. Many times Norway has been blockaded due to the silly wars down on the continent. Europe never changes, these wars will happen again, and then it's necessary to be able to produce our own food.

>>72224170
Fair enough.
its your country, after all

it just seems to me that the reasoning about self-reliance and perservation of countryside is a bit fuzzy, compared with the very concrete benefit of cheaper food

>>72224234
food isn't that expensive here when you take the wages into account.

Norwegian use very little of their income on food, so if it's any cheaper, it wouldn't make much sense.

Also, we have the safest food in the world. No salmonella, and no antibiotics. The health regulations are too strict for any other european country to follow.

We could get it cheaper from elsewhere, but it wouldn't be safer, or more environmentally friendly. And we would need to kill off the countryside. Just for slightly cheaper food sounds like a bad deal to me.

>>72224370
You would also be in the EU and have a vote, you could represent Norwegian interests in the EU

>>72224447
We are five million. The EU is around 500 million. We would be a raindrop in the ocean.

We would never be enough to influence Europe. But Europe would always be able to dominate Norway.

It's far better to just mind our own, and make this country as good as it can be. And we're more able to do it ourselves, since we know best how to run Norway.

I prefer to have a vote that matters in Norway, rather than a vote that doesn't matter in the EU.

they've been scarred by past unions with denmark and sweden
they're huge on protectionism now
there's very few compelling arguments for them to join at this point, they're doing fantastic outside the union even with low oil prices

A federalist wouldn't understand.