ABSTRACT
Through the European economic area(EEA) agreement, Norway, in contrast to the member states of the European Union, has steered away from formal supranationality. Despite the EU's supranational nature in most policy areas, it is still generally accepted that member states should enjoy a form of administrative sovereignty. This chapter shows the way in which the Norwegian administration functions in practice under the EEA agreement does not appear to be essentially different from the way in which the member states' administrations function in the implementation phase. It also deals with the extent to which national agencies operate at arm's length from ministries, where it is assumed that this plays a role in determining how close the connection to various EU authorities can become. It further analyses the ways in which EU executive authorities, that is the European Commission and EU agencies, deal with the Norwegian central administration, that is ministries and agencies, when EU regulations are to be applied in Norway.
