NORWEGIANS thought that 1972 was a pretty rotten year, but worse may
yet be heading their way. Two decades ago the political arguments that
swept through Norway sundered families, broke marriages, and set one
half of the nation against the other half. The issue was the proposal
that Norway should join the European Community, suggested in 1970, put
to a referendum two years later, and now to be tested once more. After
an interval of 20 years there are still Norwegians who won't talk to
each other because of the bitterness of the debate on that occasion, and
many Norwegians fear that the formal application, which Prime Minister
Gro Harlem Brundtland will hand to Mr Major in London next week, will
merely reopen the wounds of the past.
The application in 1972 was the third time Norway had sought
membership after two rejections in the sixties. The issues at that time
were debated to the death and have hardly changed since. The 1972
referendum vote was against joining by almost 54% to 46% and analysis of
the voting showed a broad polarisation of industrialists and city
dwellers in favour against the rural communities of fishermen and
farmers scattered from the fjords and through the valleys from the
Skagerrak to the high Arctic. The majority who voted against were
nationalists and traditionalists of all parties who combined a fear of
the changes that EC membership would bring together with a horror of
uncontrolled development. ''The big will get bigger -- vote no,'' was a
slogan from 1972 which could still be resuscitated today.
The parliamentary debate in the Norwegian parliament yesterday
illustrated amply the depth of the divisions that still exist and which
have been made worse by the recent divisions within the EC. Though Mrs
Brundtland has a comfortable majority in parliament for her decision to
apply for membership, the latest opinion polls show that 55% of
Norwegians are opposed to membership as against only 35% in favour.
While it is true that the referendum on the subject will not be held for
some considerable time, Mrs Brundtland has embarked on an exceptionally
difficult task made worse by the rejection of Maastricht by the Nordic
neighbours in Denmark. Nor will she be confident of negotiating
substantial special clauses for Norway given that Danish attempts to do
something similar have met with considerable opposition. Nevertheless
Mrs Brundtland must press ahead for the simple reason that Norway cannot
afford to be left out of a European Community which will include Sweden
and Finland.
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