The formal non-membership of Norway reflects a concern for sovereignty. As a small country, with a long history of being subordinated to either Sweden or Denmark, (an independent country only since 1905) sovereignty, of which the Norwegian Constitution is both the symbol and the guardian, has become of paramount importance. Where no supranational institutions exist, there can be no transfer of competences either, and as we will return to, this is the most important issue with regard to the Norwegian Constitutional doctrine as it is currently being applied.
The Norwegian model for the partaking in European integration is commonly characterized as the “ostrich model”. The term refers to the myth of the ostrich, which bury its head in the sand, to shy away from realities. In the same manner, shifting Norwegian governments have been willing to turn the blind eye to the political or “real effects” of agreements on European cooperation and trade, and to Norway’s role as a passive recipient of European rules and values, provided that formally, the agreements by which the cooperation is established do not create immediate direct effects in the national legal order.
The paper assesses the gap within the ostrich model between formalities and realities, the benefits of the model and its weaknesses.
