AP TELEVISION

Tromso - 17 May 2016

1. Various of Constitution Day parade

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Hans Petter Bergseth, 53-year-old medical adviser:

"Well, it's a young nation. Quite a proud nation. We are on the edge of Europe and we know what it means to be governed from abroad or we know what it means to be governed by larger countries. So I think it's deep in our soul that we want to be independent pretty much yes."

3. Various of Constitution Day parade

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Skjervoy - 18 May 2016

4. Various of Skjervoy harbour

5. Various exteriors of salmon processing plant

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Tore Pedersen, Fish processing plant manager:

"We have 180 people working here at Skjervoy and 60 percent of the workers are from other countries. It's a fact that we don't have enough Norwegian workers who want to work in the fish industry, so we need people from other countries to come and work at Skjervoy."

7. Christian in front of the processing plant

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian, No last Name given, factory worker from Romania:

"My name is Christian and I come from Romania. I've been here for four years - almost four years. I'm travelling with a Romanian passport, I've don't have any problems with travel. We don't need a visa or something like that - it's very easy to come here from Romania. It's a nice country to come to."

9. Various of filleting assembly line

10. Various of salmon packaging line

11. Various of salmon slaughter room

AP TELEVISION

Tromso - 17 May, 2016

12. Various of Tromso seen from onboard a boat in the fjord

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Tromso - 20 May, 2016

13. Various of local hotel staff on strike

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Gunn Paulsen, Union Leader:

"Before the oil strikes (meaning the fall in oil prices) it has been good for Norway because you had to have people working here, but then it started what we call in Norway the 'Monkey business' - that they started to pay lower to the people from other places, because they accept it, because however low they get in Norway they get higher than in other countries. So this is the bad thing."

15. Cutaway

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Gunn Paulsen, Union Leader:

"If they don't know the system, they work up to 12 hours. It's not nice because they ruin it for the next (person) who's coming in, the Norwegians coming in who know the regulations - but you can't say anything to the others working like this, because it's okay, they've always been doing this."

AP TELEVISION

Tromso - 19 May, 2016

17. Various of Tromso harbour

18. Professor Bjorn Hersoug walking along harbour seafront

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Prof. Bjorn Hersoug, Arctic University of Tromso:

"You know, seen from the Norwegian point of view, if you can get around the ordinary salary conditions, the labour conditions by hiring a company from, for example, from Poland, and you make a deal with this Polish company where they provide you with the labour which is unorganised (non-unionized) then you are getting around the rules. You can legally pay them less, but that kind of undermines the whole Norwegian model in the longer run."

20. Cutaway

21. SOUNDBITE (English) Prof. Bjorn Hersoug, Arctic University of Tromso

"We see that we have a number of people coming from the European Union countries and in some instances it looks like they have working conditions that are considerably worse than agreed through the ordinary Norwegian agreements for minimum wages for example. So there is kind of a fear of labour dumping."

AP TELEVISION

Tromso, Norway - 17 MAY 2016

22. Various of Tromso seen from onboard a boat in the fjord

AP TELEVISION

Brussels, Belgium - 25 MAY 2016

23. Various of EU flags

24. SOUNDBITE (English) Elisabeth Aspaker, Minister of the EEA and EU Affairs:

"I think Norway is in a very special situation. We have this huge fortune in our oil, we have developed a solid welfare state and people think 'we can do by ourselves' or 'we can go on alone.' But in another way, we have to face the reality that the EU is our most important market, up to 70 or 80 percent of all the exported goods from Norway go to the EU market, and we do need cooperation when it comes to research, education, and in many other aspects. These days it's about migration, it's about security policy. So the EEA agreement is something I would call a corner stone in the Norwegian economy and if you go to the Parliament today, they will be a solid majority for the agreement although we are not a member of the EU."

32. Various of Norway House in Brussels

With marching bands and all groups of society out in strength, Norway celebrates Constitution Day, taking pride in its sovereignty.

The small Scandinavian country's independence was hard won, having been ruled by Denmark for more than 400 years, and then by Sweden for nearly another century.

For some people, the experience of having been ruled from afar can explain Norway's reluctance to embrace the European Union project.

"We are on the edge of Europe and we know what it means to be governed from abroad," says Hans Petter Bergseth who is marching with friends from his skiing club. "I think it's deep in our soul that we want to be independent."

But whilst Norway has twice rejected EU membership in referendums in 1972 and 1994, the nation relies on a close relationship with Brussels. Seventy to 80 percent of all Norwegian exports go to the EU markets and cooperation is viewed as essential in the areas of education, research and many more.

Access to the EU's single market comes at a price.

Norway has signed up the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement, and therefore had to implement more than three quarters of all EU laws with no formal influence on how they are drafted.

More importantly, Norway has had to agree to four EU-style freedoms: free movement of goods, services, people and capital.

Today, Norway has more EU migrants per person than Britain. More than 300,000 EU nationals live here, mostly people from Poland and Sweden attracted by the prospects of high-paid jobs and a generous welfare state.

For many companies, this influx of foreign workers has been beneficial. In the small fishing village of Skjervoy several hours north of Tromso, a salmon processing plant has become dependent on foreign workers.

"We don't have enough Norwegian workers who want to work in the fish industry," explains plant manager Tore Pedersen.

Many of these foreign workers are from Romania, like Christian, who arrived nearly four years ago after growing tired of poorly paid jobs in Italy.

"I'm travelling with a Romanian passport, I've had no problem," he explains.

This factory processes 365 tons of fish per day: salmon fillets and whole fish destined for restaurants and dining tables across Europe. It's the main employer in the village, and managers say the business would not be able to grow without foreign workers willing to work the assembly lines.

Here, most workers are unionised and Pedersen says foreign workers are paid the same as Norwegians. Something the unions dispute.

Across the fishing industry, construction industry, hotel and restaurants, they report cases of employers using foreign workers that are not unionized and therefore don't benefit from the collective bargaining agreements that guarantee a minimum wage and regulated working conditions.

"If they don't know the system, they work up to 12 hours," complains union leader Gunn Paulsen, who was picketing a hotel during a four-week long strike across the Norwegian hotel industry calling for better pay. "They ruin it for the next (person) who's coming in, the Norwegians coming in who know the regulations."

Whilst many large hotel groups are unionized, smaller or independent ones without a protection are free to pay their staff whatever they wish. "However low they get in Norway they get higher than in other countries," said Paulsen.

For Professor Bjorn Hersoug from the Arctic University of Tromso, companies that seek to get around ordinary labour conditions by outsourcing the hiring for foreign workers represent a threat to the Norwegian model that balances free markets with a strong social welfare state.

"There is a fear of labour dumping," says Hersoug. "In some instances, it looks like they have working conditions that are considerably worse than agreed through the ordinary agreements for minimum wages for example."

But despite the challenges brought by the EEA agreement, cooperation with the EU and access to the single market remains essential for Norway.

"The EEA agreement is something I would call a corner stone in the Norwegian economy," says Elisabeth Aspaker, the Norwegian Minister of the EEA and EU Affairs.

"We have to face the reality that the EU is our most important market," she says. "We do need cooperation when it comes to research, education, and in many other aspects."