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More reaction to the US election
Results of the US election may end up pushing Norway into the European Union, suggest political analysts, and even Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik is listening. He's long opposed EU membership, but sees a need for more international cooperation.This was the political cartoon in newspaper Aftenposten after it emerged that George W Bush would be the US president for another four years. The text reads: "...and now I'd like to send a little greeting to all my friends in Europe." In a meeting with Crown Prince Haakon in the Prime Minister's office this week, Bondevik acknowledged that talks touched on what four more years of George W Bush as president can mean. Bondevik, who's already called for the Bush Administration to show more international cooperation, noted that he worries nonetheless that trans-Atlantic ties may be weakened. Many, he suggested, may see a need for Norway to engage in stronger foreign policy cooperation with the European Union, also in security matters. That, Bondevik acknowledged, may influence his own view on the EU. Norwegians have narrowly turned down EU membership, first in a referendum in 1972 and against in 1994. But the issue keeps coming up, and recent polls have showed Norwegians favoring EU membership. Posted by: tipper 2004-11-08 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=48174 |