Norway is not an EU member. But it negotiated with EU some preferencial treatment. And for this, Norway agreed to give some amount of money into funds, that can be used by EU members - so called norwegian grants. This amount is roughly the same what Norway would have to pay if it would be a EU member.
To be honest, from what I could see, a lot of money from these norwegian grants used in Czech rep were used in not really a good way. A lot of wasting, if not stolen.
My opinion is that EU money and subvences should be restricted to a small amount, and used only for some good cases that benefit all (internationally important transport infrastructure, desease control, waste treatment etc.). Stop with all these crazy subvences for agriculture, regardless what France wants. These subsedes may make Czech (and not only Czech) farmers happy, but they destroy Czech nature in a very quick way, the negative influence in just few years is wast. Stop with tourism subsidies - in most cases, thise money was stolen in one or other way, it went into private pockets. Also subsidies for increase of competitiveness are ridiculous - I´ve been part of one program for a short time, and those overpriced training/consulting companies are just blackholes for money.
So yes, you as a Norvegian, has helped to build a giraffe house in one Polish town you have never heard about before. But, that´s rather one of the better ways how to spend these money.
And sorry for the off-topic.
