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And the episode has highlighted growing tensions between Oslo and Brussels after eurosceptics said the country needed to reclaim authority over energy regulation as well. In the next few weeks, EU fishing vessels face being seized in waters off Svalbard and their owners prosecuted – because Norway says they have used up their quotas.
Audun Halvorsen, state secretary to the Norwegian minister for foreign affairs, told Politico: “There is no basis in international law for the European Union to set quotas in Norwegian waters.
“Controlling the resources in our national waters is a matter of fundamental national interest, as it is for the EU and its member states in EU waters.”
Brussels has responded to Norwegian objections by citing the Svalbard Treaty. That treaty, signed in Paris in 1920, which places limits on Norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago.
However, after a meeting with EU Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius in February, Norwegian Fisheries Minister Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen said the EU’s quota setting was “completely unacceptable behaviour”.
He further insisted any fishing beyond the quota “will be illegal fishing and will be enforced by the coast guard in the usual way”.
Speaking earlier this week, Centre Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, one of two opposition candidates aimed to replace Conservative Erna Solberg as Prime Minister, said: “We believe we’ve handed too much authority to the EU, particularly within the area of energy, and that we should take that back.”
“This will be a big fight, because low Norwegian electricity prices are a competitive advantage for our industries.”
[THIS IS A LIVE BLOG: SCROLL DOWN FOR REGULAR UPDATES]
7.30am update: Finally free from EU! Brexit Britain takes landmark leap as new powers used for first time
Iconic Gower Salt Marsh Lamb has been given protected status in a landmark moment, as ministers used Brexit powers for the first time to protect British products.
The meat is the first item to have been granted the status since the UK left the EU transitional period at the start of the year.
After cutting ties with the bloc, the Government launched its independent Geographical Indication (GI) schemes, which aim to ensure popular and traditional products from across the country can obtain special status to mark out their authenticity and origin.
While a part of the EU, Brussels was in charge of determining which products received special status.
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