As an EFTA EEA participant Norway is obliged to implement relevant EU laws, but are not allowed to take part in the political processes behind these laws like the EU member countries. To compensate for this democratic deficit, Norway can use many channels, both formal and informal.
One of the tools we can use is the EU-programmes. Norway participate in many of them. The programmes are instruments for implementing union policies, supplementing the laws. But they are also an opportunity to be informed about political processes in EU and give feedback to the Commission.
One of the 2014-2020 programmes where Norway probably will participate, and can give input to the Commission, is Creative Europe, the new framework programme supporting culture and media. Possibilities for influence exist, but varies of course from program to program.
An evaluation (Norwegian only) of Norways participation in the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Program (CIP) illustrates and highlights the possibilities for political influence.
CIP consisted of three subprogrammes - ICT, energy and financial help for SMEs. Among other things the evaluator should consider if the Norwegian participation really was used as a channel for influence. An d the conclusion was positive. CIP-participation gave useful exchanges of experiences between Norway and other countries and were and unique opportunity to take part in the development of relevant EU-policies.
Feedback to the Commission from CIP-projects and -initiatives represented an indirect, but important, form of participation in policy development. Both representatives af the Commission and Norwegian national experts told the evaluator that the Commission considers experience-based information as valuable input for policy development, which means that the feedback from projects is important for the Commission. As partners in CIP-projects Norwegian public organisations and private enterprises have participated in deleveloping EU framework for e-trading, tools for innovation and energy saving regulation.
The CIP-programme is now history, but the conclusions from the evaluation will be of interest for new programmes: participation in more projects will give Norway more opportunities for political influence.
No comments:
Post a Comment