The EU has pushed the Støre government to put in place more rules that will connect Norway more closely to the European power market. In March, the EU warned of consequences if the government stays too long in the thinking box about the EU’s fourth energy market package, also called the Clean Energy package. But Ap and Sp still disagree about the way forward. The case is one of the most inflamed in the Støre government. – We do not want any part of that package to be incorporated into Norwegian law, says parliamentary leader Marit Arnstad in the Center Party to news on Tuesday. – Finding solutions Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) says that people were aware of the disagreement between Sp and Labor in the EU debate: – When that matter comes to the government, we will have to deal with it then, he says. At the same time, he talks about the party being solution-oriented, although he is not clear on what the solution might be. – The Center Party is a party that finds solutions and is clear about our positions, continues Vedum. He also does not want to say when the case will be heard: – Time will tell. These are processes that often take time. The Center Party wants an independent power market that is not integrated into the European one. Photo: Linda Bjoergan / Linda Bjoergan EU: – Ongoing and constructive dialogue In February, however, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told The Nation that the package was not necessarily very far away, and that something could come in the spring. In March, the EU gave a deadline until mid-August to introduce parts of the package, the so-called renewables directive. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) confirmed last week to Aftenposten that the government will break the deadline that the EU has set for when the renewables directive must be in place. Because no more cases are submitted to the Storting before the summer, it is not practically possible to take a decision on incorporation before October at the earliest. A spokesperson for the European Commission writes in an e-mail to news on Tuesday that the dialogue with Norway is “ongoing and constructive” on energy-related issues. Including implementation of the energy rules in the EEA agreement. – We note that the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of the EEA agreement as a basis for our cooperation. And that the government is still working on exactly this issue. Vedum opened to veto Norway has become the EU’s largest supplier of gas. Foreign cables have been built to the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany to trade more power. This has raised electricity prices in Norway closer to the rest of Europe’s price level. Trading energy in an internal EU market also requires common rules. In 2018, the Storting approved a controversial set of rules, called the EU’s third energy market package. It is often referred to as “Acer”, which is the EU’s energy agency. This process took over ten years. But already in the same year, the EU was ready to renew the rules with a larger and more complicated edition, called the fourth energy market package. The EU cooperation on energy has also aroused great opposition among opponents of the EU. The Center Party is on the no side in the EU issue. Last week, Vedum told Aftenposten that they want the government to veto the latest energy market package. Such EU resistance will then become historic. Norway has never before used the right of veto. In relation to Aftenposten, the prime minister would neither open nor close the possibility that a veto could be relevant, as Sp wants. In October last year, No to the EU lost the battle against Acer in the last instance. The Supreme Court concluded that the Storting’s decision to link Norway to the EU’s energy agency Acer, through the EU’s third energy market package, was not unconstitutional. This makes the opposition to the fourth pack more difficult. Published 25.06.2024, at 17.36
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– SP is a party that finds solutions – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
