– Unfortunately, it has turned out that politicians need clear and watertight rules that cannot be misunderstood, says Rødt’s Seher Aydar to news. She is a member of the control and constitution committee at the Storting, where the government’s handling of competency cases is now being considered. Aydar believes that the new share rules, which were hastily introduced by the Prime Minister this week, are not sufficient at all. – It is a step in the right direction, but the rules still allow ministers’ spouses to buy and sell individual shares, and we have been quite well shown that this does not work, she says. Red will ban share trading for ministers and close family members. But the prime minister did not go that far when he gave an account of the austerity measures in what is called the Handbook for political leadership on Wednesday. – Must be tightened Economics professor Espen Henriksen at BI says much the same as Rødt. He believes Støre’s new guidelines should have been clearer and says top politicians and their close associates simply should not own listed individual shares. – It will remove any doubt whether they have conflicts of interest for us as voters, says Henriksen. – They should definitely have the opportunity to save in shares, but this should happen through broad funds, continues the economics professor. – Should politicians who now own shares sell them? – Yes, if there are listed shares, then they should just sell them. Henriksen believes that the situation is different with unlisted shares, where the transaction costs are higher and where it is often a matter of family-owned companies. Law professor Eivind Smith says it is important not to make the regulations so strict that it becomes practically impossible for owners and investors to become politicians. Law professor Eivind Smith. Photo: Sunniva Linjord – Støre has advocated that others should manage the shares while the politician himself is active. But should this be tightened further? – Yes, it is conceivable that the rule should be tightened. For example, by being prohibited from giving instructions from a shareholder to a manager. It can be baked into agreements and made visible to the Prime Minister’s office, so that it can be verified, says Smith. If there is a backlash, news has contacted all the opposition parties that sit on the control committee. Neither SV, Høyre, Venstre nor the Progressive Party will here and now put a stamp of approval on Støre’s new rules: If ministers, state secretaries or political advisers have shares when they take office, they now have three choices: Either they can sell the shares, “freeze” the ownership or get someone else to manage the investment. The guidelines for what a politician must do if the spouse owns shares are also made clearer: In short, it is now clearly stated that a minister has a duty to obtain an overview of which shares the spouse owns. – These changes came quickly, and they had to come quickly. But from the Storting’s side, we have to look at the whole, and it may be that we make recommendations or requests to the government for changes, says Conservative Svein Harberg. – This is a proper first step, but we have to take a closer look at this before we draw conclusions, says Venstres Grunde Almeland. The same message came from SV’s deputy leader Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes, whom news interviewed yesterday: – On the Storting’s side, we must assess these guidelines on our own and see if they need to be developed further, he said. Will instruct It is up to every sitting Prime Minister to draw up the guidelines for his government. But the Storting can put forward resolutions on requests and thus lay down guidelines for how the rules are drawn up. It is not enough for Seher Aydar in Rødt. – We have no guarantee that a future government will retain these new and tougher rules. I think the Storting must adopt rules that all governments must comply with, she says. When asked whether the restrictions on share trading should apply exclusively to Norwegian listed companies or also include bonds and unlisted shares, Aydar replies as follows: – That is a good question. We need to sit down and create a system that works well as intended. Stricter on the Storting Several parties have advocated that the strictures should also apply to representatives of the Storting. Svein Harberg is also clear about that. – It is completely natural, and the Conservative Party has already put forward proposals in this regard, he says. In addition to meeting in the control committee, Harberg is first vice-president of the Storting. He thus leads the work in the so-called regulations committee. Harberg says the work to tighten the rules belongs here, but he also allows the control committee to raise the issue in its treatment of the government’s competence management. FRP’s Carl I. Hagen says it is in particular parliamentary representatives who are part of the parliamentary leadership or meetings in the finance committee, who may be exposed to inside information. But it can also apply to members of other committees, such as the energy committee, he points out. – It is entirely possible to distinguish between representatives, when a new set of regulations is to be assessed, he says. Four measures Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg proposed earlier this summer four tightening of the share rules for top politicians. Among the proposals was to prohibit parliamentarians and their political advisers from buying and selling shares “in cases where they participate in political processes or have knowledge that may be price-sensitive for industries and individual companies.” Right-wing profile Nikolai Astrup, who is himself among the dozens of representatives of the Storting who own shares, came out this summer with his own proposal for austerity. In an interview with E24, he criticized that, according to the current rules, representatives of the Storting only have to report changes in company interests twice a year. Note if the ownership is only indirect, through another company. – One can wonder what the point is in showing a snapshot twice a year, Astrup told E24. The register that the Storting has of the representatives’ offices and financial interests is updated monthly. Last update was made on 30 August.
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Will tighten Støre’s new share rules – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
