Who said we lose influence out on our own?

In an intriguing article from an unlikely source - tamilnet.com - comes news that the Norway has ceased its alignment with the EU "terror" list of banned individuals and organisations.

The reason given by the ministry of foreign affairs is that continued alignment could cause difficulties for Norway in its role as "neutral facilitator in certain peace processes". The country wanted to intensify its involvement in this arena and wanted to avoid a situation that makes it difficult for it to have contact with any of the parties to a conflict.

Norway's role, it says, could become difficult if one of the parties involved was included on the EU list, and the opportunities for contact were thus restricted.

In other words, Norway – as an independent nation – wants to increase its influence on the international stage (for a wholly noble reason) and feels that, in order to do so, it must distance itself from the EU in a crucial area of its foreign policy.

And who was it who said we would lose influence if we left the EU?

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