Mood in Norway swings against EU

Popular opinion in Norway has swung against joining the European Union for the first time in two years, ending a run of enthusiasm linked to EU expansion, a poll showed yesterday.

The Sentio-Norstat survey, for three Norwegian newspapers, indicated that 45 per cent of Norwegians opposed EU membership, with 42 per cent in favour and 13 per cent unsure or undecided.

In June, 47 per cent had said "Yes" in a similar poll and 38 per cent "No". Yesterday's poll was the first "No" lead since August 2002.

Norwegians voted "No" to joining the EU in referendums in 1994 and 1972. But the country's pro-EU political parties are holding open the possibility of another referendum after the next general elections in September 2005.

Pollsters said the swing to a "No" might be short-lived but EU opponents said the survey mirrored scepticism among many EU residents about the new EU constitution and about whether the block had become too unwieldy after expanding from 15 states to 25 in May.

"The EU isn't just rosy, fine and nice," Sigbjoern Gjelsvik, head of Norway's "No to the EU" group, told the daily Nationen.

But the managing director of Sentio-Norstat said it was hard to see a long-term trend in the poll, taken among 1,000 Norwegians from July 27-August 1.

"It could be that it's summer, and people are feeling good about things as they are," Arve Ostgaard told Reuters. "I think that the poll will swing back to show a 'Yes'."

Pollsters say that the previous "Yes" leads reflected a feeling among Norwegians of being left out on a northern fringe of Europe as Eastern European and Mediterranean states lined up to join.

But Norway is rich thanks to oil and can well do without the EU - Norway pumps about three million barrels per day and is the number three world exporter behind Saudi Arabia and Russia.

And last month, Norway topped a UN survey of the best nations in which to live based on factors such as wealth and health care for the fourth year in a row.