Lobbying in Oslo or in Brussels? The case of a European Economic Area country

ABSTRACT

Norwegian energy policy is increasingly made by the European Union (EU), but as a European Economic Area (EEA) member only, Norway lacks representation in EU institutions. This article studies how key Norwegian energy companies and organizations deal with this challenge, asking whether Norwegian interest groups lobby directly in Brussels or lobby in Oslo to influence EU legislation. It finds that although Norwegian interest groups lack access to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, they have access to the Commission. Still, they mainly lobby in Oslo, even to influence EU legislation. When lobbying in Brussels, they lobby early in the decision-making process and together with ‘good friends’, mostly European associations. However, these lobbying strategies are insufficient to compensate for lack of representation in EU institutions – which therefore represents a great democratic problem. A case study of the EU 2030 Framework on climate and energy illustrates this democratic challenge.

KEY WORDS:

• Energy policy
• European Economic Area
• European Union
• interest groups
• lobbying
• Norway

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would thank Tora Skodvin and Stine Aakre, the editor and the anonymous reviewers for valuable comments, Frank Azevedo for editing, and all the interviewees for sharing their time and information. Funding by The Research Council of Norway (RENERGI, grant number 199880, and CICEP, grant number 209701) is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

1 See the Appendix for an overview of interviewees and Section 4.1 for a full account of data.

2 The list was received from Johan Vetlesen, NMPE, 5 April 2013.

3 Including Norway's official delegation to the EU.

4 However, Norwegian environmental organizations support three binding targets.

Additional information

Biographical note

Anne Therese Gullberg is a senior research fellow at Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo (CICERO).