From no to EU-yes – VG

– Almost 50 years have passed since the Liberal Party split in the case of the EU. We now have the backing to withstand such a change in position. People on both sides have pretty low shoulders in 2020 and are pretty laid back about it, Guri Melby tells VG.

The National Assembly of the Liberal Party on Sunday overwhelmingly went to work long-term for Norway’s membership in the EU.

The newly elected Liberal leader himself has always been positive about Norway’s membership of the EU.

– The EU is the best we have

– I think it is important with a binding international cooperation and, to this day, the EU is the best we have. Especially in the field of climate and immigration, we need to find some common European measures that work, Melby tells VG.

She believes that Norway should be an active contributor rather than sit back and wait for the EU to make a decision.

But not everyone who spoke during the EU debate on Sunday saw a laid-back low-shouldered party on the EU issue:

Lena Landsverk Sande in Møre og Romsdal Venstre warned against the risk of “tearing the match apart once more”.

– We can get more members by being a yes party. But when we are on the threshold today, why do we want to take this debate now? Can’t we regulate cooperation through the EEA agreement and rather expand the possibilities here, said Sande.

Liberal veteran Odd Einar Dørum also failed to stem the wave from the EU.

– Are you disappointed?

– Yes, I am, Dørum tells VG after the decision.

Now EU supporters and opponents have switched roles, he believes.

– I, who am in favor of the EEA agreement and against the membership of Norway, must be in the situation in which several members of the party have been, who were in favor of the membership while the party was against.

Yes, supporters have tried several times to get the Liberal Party to work closer to a Norwegian membership in the EU. But many of the party’s heavyweights have resisted, including outgoing Liberal leader Trine Skei Grande.

Now he faces a changing party.

– I experience that the Liberal Party is a developing party, which also develops in political positions. But to be completely honest, I think maybe Guri is more in tune with the party than I am, she tells NTB.

Raja EU supporter

The newly elected second vice president, Abid Raja, let it hang on the air until the EU debate at the national meeting on what position he would take. He then made it known in a response to EU opponent and veteran liberal Odd Einar Dørum:

– We must be present where decisions are made. The EU is not perfect, but we must be involved and present when decisions are made. That is what is called democracy, Raja said.

First Vice President and Climate Minister Sveinung Rotevatn confirmed that the entire leadership of the Liberal Party is in favor of the EU.

– When I have finished lobbying my EU ministerial colleagues, I will have to go to the corridor. It’s a bit degrading, not for me personally, but for the country. Norway is an important country. As a member of the EU, we would have been the eighth largest economy in the EU, Rotevatn recalled.

– EEE a lower table

The leader Torgeir Anda in Trøndelag Venstre and representative of the minority in the national government, argued against EU membership:

– It is not everything that the EU manages to solve adequately, such as the migration crisis and the crown. Better to focus on the tasks that are close to us, Anda said, adding that the most important battle in Norway has to do with the EEA deal, which he calls an end result in Norwegian politics.

Petter Toldnæs of Agder Venstre is among the yes-minded. He removed the blue EU sanitary napkin and advocated for Norway’s accession to the EU. – I want a Europe that fills the emptiness of the United States and a strong EU that provides security to Norway, Toldnæs said. He believes the time has come for Norway to put a hand on the wheel, as he put it.

The People’s Mayor of the Liberal Party in Stad Municipality, Alfred Bjørlo, is one of the people in the Liberal Party who has changed his vision of the EU before the party’s long-term change operation.

– I gradually turned around until I became a yes-man in the early 2000s. The main reason is that the EU became the pan-European organization that took on the unifying role that I did not believe in in 1994, says Bjørlo from Nordfjordeid to VG.

Others of the Left District have a completely different approach, among others

John-Arvid Eik at Rogaland Venstre:

– I am a farmer and I am afraid of my job if we join the EU. We should not rush to get to the national meeting next year with half a delegation, Eik warned.

Former State Council and resigned Liberal Party Deputy Leader Ola Elvestuen reminded the national assembly that it was important for the party to respect the position of the two sides in the occasionally heated EU debate:

– I hope to vote in favor so that we can take the step. We have extremely close cooperation with European countries at present. Now we must cooperate fully. I am glad that the EU is there to meet the challenge of democracies in Europe, Elvestuen said.