As of Bloomberg opinion columnist Javier Blas in “Why Norway's political crisis is a European energy problem” (February 3, 2025)
After decades in which he has closed the bill for the Grand Energy Experiments in Europe, Norway finally seems to be decided to go the stage-at least the door on a few cross-border power cables on the way outside.
The political crisis that Oslo rocks is not just about domestic arguments or an ideological attitude. It is about energy-gently the growing realization that Norway has become the unwilling battery for Germany's failed energy-rich battery. Or as the Germans call it, energy transition.
And like all great social experiments with other people's money, the Norwegians understandably lose patience.
The dark flute -Domino effect
Blas no words crushed. To understand what is happening in Norway, you have to grasp two German words: energy transition and dark doldrums.
- Energy transition: Germany's praised energy transfer, which inspires nuclear plants and amazed subsidies for intermittent wind and solar.
- Dark: A literal “dark break” – these long winter stretching when it is not only cold and cloudy, but also incredibly quiet. No wind. No sun. No strength.
Germany has become a dangerous energy -dependent neighbors when Baseload capacity exchanged and despised, despised plants (ie fossil fuels). If the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow, Berlin is in the north – namely Norway – and expects the lights to stay.
And for years they have. At the expense of Norway.
Reducing higher prices, falling patience
Cross-border electricity liabilities, which were often praised as miracles of modern engineering (cost over $ 1 billion each), should create a seamless European network. In theory, they would compensate for prices and share resources.
In practice, they exported Germany's energy failure on the entire continent.
According to Blas, “average wholesale power prices in 2023-2024 in southern Norway were more than 50% higher than in the period 2010-2020”-a direct result of increasing electricity exports to fight fighting grids abroad.
The Norwegians are told that this is “efficient”. In reality, they subsidize poor politics-especially Berlin's decision to nuk their own nuclear fleet and to double the weather-dependent infrastructure.
A government falls and a message is sent
When the Euro-Skeptic Center Party supported its support for new EU energy rules (the so-called fourth package for clean energies), it provoked more than a minor government. It has sent the clearest news so far that Norway will no longer be Europe's backup generator.
Now the Labor party remains alone – the first minority government in 25 years. In the next elections on September 8, this problem should be great.
This is not just a Norwegian tantrum. Similar tensions follow elsewhere:
- Sweden recently rejected a German request for another connector.
- Norway previously rejected a British proposal for a cable to Scotland.
- France, Austria and even Greece begin to mk over a similar dynamic.
The illusion of a uniform, efficient, pan -European energy market is cracked. And it is not difficult to understand why.
Cross -border hypocrisy and the green Mirage
The deeper irony here is that the countries that support themselves on Norway to save them are the most important ones who are most importantly the aggressive “green” goals. These ambitions are based on the ridiculous assumption that renewable energies, which are supported by sporadic imports and dreams of warehouses, can replace the Baseload force.
Germany, the ring champion of this energy circus, Castle Castle Castle prematurely, only to be with coal again … again. Blas writes: “Berlin has to make sure that it has enough domestic capacity to keep the light. This means that the coal -fired power plants are opened far longer than at the moment.”
This is the real scandal: the so -called climate leaders fail according to their own standards and pull others with them.
The economy of “efficiency” – for whom?
Blas distinguishes a decisive distinction between economic efficiency and political accountability:
“Efficiency has a different importance in business than in politics. In the former, this means” lower average prices for everyone “. In the latter, this means” lower prices only for my own voters “.
Translation: German voters enjoy cheaper power because Norwegian voters pay more. And now the latter ask: “Why are we doing this?”
The idea that Norway should continue to subsidize the ideology of someone else-especially one that rejects the energy technologies that Norway made rich and resilient-a non-starter.
To hear the warning shot across Europe
The potential scrap of two half century old cables in Denmark is not a mere infrastructure dispute. It is a warning. Even if the Nordic block, historically cooperative and consensus driven, withdraws from the EU energy integration, it is clear that the entire house of cards is wobbling.
The lesson? If a guideline needs someone to suffer economically to be successful, this is not a good policy.
No more Netter Norseman
Norway's quiet rebellion is not just about politics or local pricing. It is a systemic indictment against the renewable imagination that increases the energy agenda in Europe. A nation that exports more electricity than it consumes should not make its citizens pay some of the highest prices in the continent. And it should certainly not be forced to comply with the political packages, it had no real role in the design.
Blas has the right to call Norway as a “wake -up call”. The energy landscape of the continent for the coming decades will shape whether Europe meets Snooze or is finally exposed to the consequences of his magical thinking.
One thing is clear: Norway will no longer be Europe's floor mat.
Source: Javier Blas, why the political crisis of Norway is a European energy problem, Bloomberg opinion, February 3, 2025. Archived Link
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