NORWEGIAN LOCAL-GOVERNMENT IN THE EUROPEA N ECONOMIC SPACE - HAMPEREDOR SHELTERED

Formally the existence of two pillars in the European Economic Space, one for the EFTA states taking part, another for the EC states, may cr eate two separate areas for political activities by the sub-central st ates actors. This may prove to be difficult to handle by these actors as the reason for establishing the common space is to secure common ru les and common conditions for competition. Especially for local and re gional self-government units in the EFTA pillar this may create proble ms. The sub-state self-government bodies partly act as part of the sta te administration, partly as self-government bodies sensu strictu, leg itimised by local/regional elections. The reason for creating an EFTA pillar inside the unified market is to make it possible for non-EC sta tes to keep formal national sovereignty intact without being placed to o far from the European process of integration. Therefore the attribut es of the central state will be kept more strictly than on the EC pill ar. This means that the local and regional units of the EFTA member co untries taking part in the EEA will be left with less direct access to the international/supranational level than their EC counterparts. And moreover, the access they will have will be towards the least importa nt of the two pillars. Therefore the local and regional self-governmen t units may be hindered in their efforts to acts as they are supposed to do, i.e. more and more as independent actors taking the responsibil ity for the economic growth of their own geographical area.