FRP leader Sylvi Listhaug has no doubts about what is the most important question to be answered. – That’s how you could go over three months from Frode Elgesem asking the minister to assess her capacity, until she actually declared herself incompetent to him, she says to news. – How could she, after receiving such a “warning”, still take the initiative to record him as a board member of the Wergelands Center? It is very difficult to understand, says the Frp leader. REQUIRES ANSWERS: FRP leader Sylvi Listhaug believes there are a number of unanswered questions in the competency case for Tonje Brenna. Photo: Lars Thomas Nordby / NTB On Tuesday, it became known that Brenna gave a board position in the foundation Wergelandssenteret to team judge Frode Elgesem, to whom she has now declared herself incompetent. The foundation has given money to Utøya AS, where three board members are close friends of Brenna. She has declared herself incompetent to these as well. – I have dealt with questions about my own competence too late and too poorly. This has led to several errors. It’s serious and I’m sorry for that, Brenna said yesterday. Now the case will have an aftermath in the Storting. – It is incredibly important that we ensure that we are competent as politicians, and that we follow the existing regulations. It’s about trust, says Listhaug. These are the questions Brenna must answer. Is the minister competent when it comes to applications from Utøya AS, where three close friends sit on the board? Is the minister competent when it comes to applications from the Wergelandsssenteret, where a close friend sits on the board? Is the minister competent when it comes to appointing a chairman and/or board members for the Wergelands Centre? Was the minister competent when she appointed a friend as a board member for the Wergelandscentre? Is the minister competent in relation to three named board members of Utøya AS? Is the minister competent when it comes to applications from the Raftostiftelsen, where a close friend sits on the board? Has the minister processed applications from the aforementioned businesses, despite disqualification? Was the minister asked to assess his competence before appointing a friend as a board member of the Wergelandssenteret? Did the Minister record an SMS where she was asked to assess her competence before appointing a friend as a board member of the Wergelands Centre? Why didn’t the Prime Minister follow up on his own promise in SMS to “… check that everything is in order”? What was the background for the state secretary asking for a competency assessment? Was the Minister aware that the Secretary of State requested a competency assessment? When did the Secretary of State ask for a competency assessment? Why was the minister’s competence assessment not requested at the same time? When was the Minister informed that the Secretary of State had been declared incompetent? Why does it take twelve days, from the time the Secretary of State was declared incompetent, until the Minister asks to have his disqualification assessed? Why does it take a month from when Minister Brenna asks for a competency assessment, until she declares herself incompetent? Are there other cases where the Minister’s competence should have been assessed, and where it was not done? Could the minister’s disqualification have affected the handling of cases in the ministry? Will any decisions have to be overturned as a result of the minister’s incapacity? If there are other things that are or have not been recorded that may be relevant to the case, the committee asks that this be sent to them. What other matters will the minister explain in this matter? (Source: Fremskrittspartiet) – Unanswered questions The Storting’s “watchdog”, the Control and Constitution Committee, will meet on Wednesday to discuss the matter. FRP touches on a number of different topics in the questions the party brings to the meeting. Several are about clarifying the facts in the case. Specifically, Brenna is asked to explain whether she is competent when it comes to applications from and appointments in Utøya AS, the Wergelandsenteret and the Raftostiftelsen. Several questions also raise assessments related to the competence of Brenna’s state secretary in the Ministry of Education, Sindre Lysø. EXPLANATION: Minister of Education Tonje Brenna (Ap) met the press yesterday. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Listhaug still believes that several questions remain unanswered, including that Lysø was already declared incompetent towards several actors on 4 May, while she herself waited twelve days before doing the same. On Tuesday, it became clear that Anne Beate Tvinnereim (Sp) will become Minister for Settlements – Brenna’s “substitute” – in matters where Brenna believes she is incompetent. Tvinnereim will now go through salle cases involving the three board members of Utøya AS and Elgesem. In the last couple of years, Tonje Brenna has become one of Ap’s most central politicians. She has been minister of knowledge in the Støre government since the election in 2021. And this spring she was elected one of two deputy leaders in the party. Political observers have pointed to Brenna as a possible heir to Jonas Gahr Støre on the day he steps down as Ap leader. Control track Several parties demand that the matter must be on the control committee’s table. COMMITTEE CHAIR: Peter Christian Frølich, right. Photo: William Jobling / news However, there are several stages in a process in this committee. The first step is for the matter to be discussed in the committee, and for written questions to be sent to the minister. But the fact that the committee examines the matter in the form of written questions is not the same as a control case being opened, points out Audun Lysbakken (SV) to NTB. If an inspection case is opened, it may later end with a hearing in the Storting. – A minister who breaks the rules of competence has obviously done something serious, which the Storting takes with the utmost seriousness. Then we get to discuss and find out how big a breach this is, and what the consequences will be, says committee leader Peter Christian Frølich (H). CONTROL: MDG parliamentary leader Lan Marie Berg. Photo: Rodrigo Freitas / NTB Both MDG’s Lan Marie Berg and Venstre’s Grunde Almeland believe the control committee should look into the matter. – Ensuring one’s own impartiality is absolutely fundamental for the population to have confidence in the decisions made by a government, says Almeland to NTB. Brenna has assured Frølich that she will contribute as best she can to clarifying the case. – If the Storting wants to get into this matter, I will contribute with all the information they need to get to the bottom of it, she says to news. The control committee is the only one in the Storting with its own minority rights. The purpose is to give a qualified minority the opportunity to control the majority. The rules therefore state that it is sufficient that a third of the committee members wish to establish a control case. Statement Brenna yesterday published a longer statement on the Ministry of Education’s website. Main points in Brenna’s summary Three close friends on the board of Utøya AS and is incompetent towards these three (Martin Henriksen, Hilde Firman Fjellså and Marianne Wilhelmsen). Utøya AS collaborates closely on a school project with the Wergeland Center, which receives money from the Ministry of Education. Brenna cannot therefore handle matters related to Utøya AS. Frode Elgesem was appointed board member of the Wergeland Center in May 2023. He is chairman of the Raftostiftelsen, which is under Brenna’s ministry. Brenna says that after an overall assessment she has come to the conclusion that she is incompetent towards Elgesem. Brenna has therefore asked for advice from the Minister of State in cases where these four people are involved, as well as in cases affecting Utøya AS. (Source: Ministry of Education) – I should have seen earlier that the ties between Utøya AS and the Wergelands Center in this project are so close that I should not have taken a decision on the subsidy for the project, Brenna said on Tuesday. On Tuesday, it also became clear that Frode Elgesem had raised the issue of competence in a text message directly to Brenna. – I see that I should also have assessed my competence earlier in matters related to Elgesem, said the minister.
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22 questions that Brenna must answer – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
