[wqaatwt]

You didn’t need the EU for the removal of trade barriers and the common market. Both were established quite a while before the EU as we know it now became a thing in the 90s.

> we really want those border checks back

Why? You don’t need to be in the EU to belong to Shengen.

[GTP]

The European Union is actually an union of treaties, with countries that sign some and not others. So here you would need to be more specific.

[wqaatwt]

That used to be the case. i.e. if imposing Chat Control on all countries would have required a treaty it would hardly have any chances. However national governments have delegated the right to EU institutions to impose mandatory regulations. You can’t pick and chose anymore.

[Chu4eeno]

Not really.

Norway is not EU, it's EEA, which is more like what you describe (the population rejected joining twice in referendums, but the politicians still wanted some treaties).