Norway is reconsidering joining the EU, the country’s foreign minister said, citing a shift from a “benign world” to a “crazy world.”
Norwegians voted in 1972 and 1994 to remain outside the bloc. However, the country joined the single market, meaning it is subject to EU trade agreements but has no say in negotiations.
Tariff wars with Washington and NATO’s growing divisions are making membership attractive, Espen Barth Eide told the Financial Times.
The EU would be keen to admit Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer, and is looking to add new members: Iceland is holding a referendum in August, and nine other states are candidates, including Ukraine. The bloc is less open to a British return, however.