German-Norwegian relations

Germany and Norway are both members of the Council of Europe , the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe , the OECD , the European Economic Area , NATO , the Baltic Sea Council (although Norway is not a Baltic Sea state) and the Schengen area (although Norway is not a member of the European Union is).

Germany operates an embassy in Oslo . Norway has an embassy in Berlin and a consulate general in Hamburg . Honorary consuls general are active in Düsseldorf and Leipzig , honorary consuls in Bremen , Frankfurt am Main , Hanover , Kiel , Lübeck and Munich .

To promote German-Norwegian relations, the German-Norwegian Society was founded in 1982 and the German-Norwegian Friendship Society in 1988 .

history

Bryggen or Tyskebryggen ( the German wharf ) in Bergen were the offices of the Hanse merchants in Bergen

The Norwegians are a north Germanic people and closely related to the Germans. Norway has had very close economic, cultural, linguistic and religious ties with Germany since the Middle Ages. The Hanseatic League in particular had a profound influence on Norway, economically, culturally and linguistically; Because of the linguistic influence of Germans since the late Middle Ages, around 40% of words in modern Norwegian, including many of the most common words, are of Low German origin. Norway has had a Lutheran state church since 1536 and is still predominantly Lutheran to this day. During the personal union of Denmark-Norway with the Duchy of Schleswig and the Duchy of Holstein from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century, many German and German-born Danes came to Norway as civil servants, priests and merchants. Along with Danish, German was one of the two official languages of the sovereign territory of the Danish king and the state administration in Copenhagen, and the royal court was mostly German-speaking for a long time. In Denmark-Norway, Germans were heavily overrepresented in the state administration and leadership because the school and university system was developed earlier in Schleswig-Holstein; the royal family was also German-speaking and of German origin. German was traditionally the most important foreign language in Norway. Many Norwegians have studied or lived in Germany, e.g. B. Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Grieg .

After the occupation during the Second World War, close economic and political relations between Germany and Norway soon developed again. Germany has been one of Norway's most important allies in NATO since 1955 and is Norway's largest trading partner.

economy

Benjamin Wegner , a Norwegian industrialist of the 19th century, was an immigrant from Germany

With 13.8 billion euros and a share of 11.1%, Germany was the third most important export country for Norway in 2013 . At almost 60%, oil and gas exports were of outstanding importance. Norway is the second most important energy supplier for Germany after Russia . Other export goods are fish and chemical products as well as aluminum products for the automotive industry .

In terms of Norwegian imports , Germany was in second place behind Sweden with 7.8 billion euros and a share of 12.4% in 2013. Motor vehicles accounted for 27% of imports . Other important import goods are machines , chemical products, electrical engineering , metal goods and food .

For the much larger German economy, Norway ranks 14th among the most important importing countries and 30th for exports. The German-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce is the official representative of the German economy in Norway.

With 1.3 million overnight stays, German tourists ranked first among foreign guests in 2013. Norwegians stayed in Germany 864,081 times in the same year .