– What is said about collaboration and innovation is interesting. That’s what Minister for Municipalities and Districts Sigbjørn Gjelsvik (Sp) said when he received the recommendations to the Generalist Municipal Committee last week. The recommendation for fewer and larger municipal units did not go down as well, and was rejected across the board. – Pressuring the municipalities to merge is not a solution to the challenges, said the minister. He repeated the message in Politisk Kvarter on news P2 on Friday morning. – It is the prerogative of the minister and the government to assess whether this is a proposal they wish to proceed with politically, or not, says Tom Cato Karlsen, who led the committee. Behind the recommendations is the main conclusion that no Norwegian municipality is able to solve all 220 tasks (see below) that they are required to provide to their citizens. In several small district municipalities, compliance with the law is below 60 per cent. Important municipal tasks The municipality is responsible for ensuring that the residents of the municipality receive basic welfare benefits such as schooling, kindergarten, social assistance, child protection, medical assistance and nursing homes. All 220 tasks are listed here. Important municipal tasks: Teaching kindergarten primary school after-school program (SFO) special education Health health and social care primary health care home care and nursing home care for the elderly and nursing homes health care for the mentally retarded social care Transport and technical tasks local roads water, sewerage and garbage fire and sweeping services management and planning authority local environmental protection Culture and leisure churches and churchyards leisure clubs culture school public library source: ung.no Municipal and District Minister Sigbjørn Gjelsvik (Sp) is at best lukewarm to parts of the recommendations from the Generalist Municipal Committee. Photo: Bjarte Johannesen / news – The neighbor talk is a loser’s case In March, Høgre’s national meeting decided that the county municipalities must be closed and that it is sufficient to have two levels of administration in Norway: the state and (larger) municipalities. Nevertheless, there are conflicts within Høgre about how actively they should encourage more mergers. Several Høgre mayors news has been in contact with refer to the idea of ”taking the neighbor’s talk” as a losing cause which is only apt to create noise and “a lot of rubbish” in the election campaign. Electoral expert Yngve Flo at the University of Bergen believes the ambivalence is just as great among the governing party. He put it this way: The Center Party has an electoral strategic interest, but not a substantive interest in mergers being on the agenda. The Labor Party has a factual interest, but not an electoral strategic interest, in mergers being on the agenda. The explanation is that the Center Party has traditionally been born out of opposition to reforms, while the Labor Party has been more reform-friendly. Yngve Flo adds that several factors speak against mergers becoming a central theme in the election campaign. One is that the distance to the Sanner reform is not large enough and that there are signs of “reform fatigue” out in Commune-Norway. The second is that what becomes Saka (with a capital s) has a tendency to come across as bardus on someone. – In the end, it was the tolls that turned everything upside down. Leader of the Generalist Municipal Committee, Tom Cato Karlsen (former FRP), and municipal minister Sigbjørn Gjelsvik (Sp) in a duel. – No one wants to take this lightly. news has been in contact with several people who point to the same paradox: The expert committee proposes fewer municipalities – but the few are keen to talk about it. – I can’t imagine that anyone will take this with a firebrand, says political editor in Nordlys, Skjalg Fjellheim. He adds: – The only people who are mobilizing on this are the Center Party, and both Høgre and Ap want to avoid that, since they have had the painful experience of what the outcome can be. In the newspaper Nationen, political editor Anne Ekornholmen writes that the report to the committee is “an easter egg” for a municipal minister who does not agree with the main conclusion. – I don’t think amalgamation will be an issue in many municipalities before the election, she says to news. – The local politicians know their residents well enough to know that there are many feelings, identities and opinions connected to the municipality and hometown. It will put many other important matters completely in the shade. Will municipal mergers be a central election campaign theme? Helge Eide, director of KS – I do not think that municipal mergers will be a central theme in the election campaign. There is no party that seems to make it a national profile issue for their own election campaign, and it does not seem at all that it is something that many people want to raise for local debate. So then, in that case, there will have to be various interest organizations or national media that will have to seek to put it on the agenda. There will probably be various upheavals here, but hardly to such a degree that it will affect the election campaign. Anne Ekornholmen, political editor in the Nation – The election campaign will naturally revolve around how the municipality can best facilitate good services, and which party has the best solutions for just that. More cooperation across municipal borders may well be on the agenda, but the mayoral candidate who eventually goes to the polls on merging with the neighbor will probably be a lonely swallow. Hanne Alstrup Velure, county mayoral candidate for Høgre i Innlandet – I don’t think this will be a central part of the election campaign if we are to have municipal reform, but in many places rather how we are going to solve the demographic challenges in the hinterland. When Jan Tore Sanner launched the “neighbor talk”, it was because he had no other tools than this. One place or another had to start to initiate – at least – thought processes about the necessary change. I notice that there has been a maturation and recognition process among many local politicians in all parties. I don’t think many people want to use the term “municipal reform” or “municipal amalgamation” in the election campaign. It immediately revives old polarization. I still think that many places will discuss the need for a pooling of forces in the regions in order to maintain the qualities many young people are asking for: To live in the district with good access to nature and at the same time not be too far from a regional center with urban qualities and access to a wide selection of public and private services. Jon Rolf Næss, leader of the National Association of Water Power Municipalities (LVK) – I don’t think there will be any major issue in the election campaign. But in some municipalities and regions it is unavoidable, such as Kristiansand, Søgne/Sogndalen. But I am glad that it is not a big national topic. We have other challenges that are much more important. Erling Sande, the Center Party – Erna Solberg and Høgre have been clear that their local candidates will raise debate about new municipal mergers locally. But in my and SP’s view, it is completely wrong to throw Municipality-Norway into a new large amalgamation process now. We will be clear about that in the election campaign. Tobias Drevland Lund, municipal political spokesperson in Raudt – The municipalities must rest now. It was not long ago that we spent heaps of money on forced calls with the neighbour. Raudt is satisfied that the committee recommends maintaining the generalist municipality principle, which we believe is decisive for the trust the citizens have in local democracy, the safety of the local communities and the legal certainty of the population. The unanimous recommendations are much more interesting; not least the recommendation for less government governance. This assumes that we at the Storting must give the municipalities real room for action in the form of good finances, full funding of tasks and less earmarking of funds so that the local politicians have room to adapt the policy to the needs of their citizens. Mudassar Kapur, municipal policy spokesperson in Høgre – The municipalities in the country must be equipped to meet tomorrow’s challenges and deliver good services to their citizens. Many small municipalities experience that the competence environment disappears and they are unable to deliver their statutory services in a good enough manner. This shows how important it was that the Solberg government started municipal reform. Politicians must be open to assessing how we can best organize Municipality-Norway to face the future. We will now spend plenty of time familiarizing ourselves with the report and obtaining input from both our own party and external actors. Lene Vågslid, parliamentary representative for the Labor Party – I hope the election campaign will be about solutions for better welfare. We must have a reform for the elderly so that the elderly can live better, safer and longer at home. We must have an escalation of efforts for mental health care. We must save the GP scheme. And we must reduce school dropout rates. All of these are major societal challenges in which the municipalities have an absolutely central role. If an Ap mayor believes that the municipality needs to be bigger to solve these challenges, then I support it. But I also support good inter-municipal cooperation, better cooperation between state and municipality and municipalities that are freed from laws that prevent new solutions to important tasks. Jenny Følling (Sp), mayor of Sunnfjord municipality – I don’t think the question of municipal amalgamation will be central to the election campaign. It is not relevant for us now, because we are working to build up our new municipality. Electoral expert Yngve Flo believes Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (pictured) has no interest in mergers being too high on the agenda. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB – Political kryptonite to talk about merging In 2011, Høgre lost the election in Sandnes after the then mayoral candidate agreed to merge with Stavanger. The question paved the way for the awkward constellation Ap/Frp, which has lasted for three election periods. Political editor in Stavanger Aftenblad, Harald Birkevold, characterizes it as “political kryptonite” to speak too highly of a Greater Stavanger. – It is frustrating. There are many good arguments for Nord-Jæren Stavanger, Sandnes, Sola and Randaberg becoming one municipality, he says. In 2017, Høgre and Frp put aside their primary position to close down the county council in exchange for KrF and Venstre joining the government’s municipal reform. – It is difficult to stand out locally as an “agent for change”. Therefore, I think many local politicians from other parties will be afraid to put the topic on the agenda locally. But me and Venstre cheer for those who dare. In the long run, there is no way out, says Alfred Bjørlo (V). He characterizes the situation as “actually completely unsustainable”, and adds that there are only two solutions: That the state overrules municipalities that are unable to solve their tasks A comprehensive municipal reform with “fewer and larger municipalities that can secure and strengthen local democracy instead of it is weathering bit by bit” Storting representative for the Progress Party in Hordaland, Helge André Njåstad, tells news that it is “good if someone takes up the neighborly conversation”, but does not think it will be a big issue during the election campaign. – I think people are fed up with talk of reversal and reform, and would rather focus on new municipalities being allowed to settle. Eivind Helleland is a mayoral candidate for the Center Party in Vik municipality in Sogn. – I don’t think amalgamation will be a central issue, but the question will lie in the water crust. Lack of skills, recruitment difficulties, leaving and aging are realities that can breathe life into the debate.
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Proposals for larger municipalities have all been shelved – news Vestland
