The Prime Minister’s office today submitted a comprehensive response to the Storting’s Control and Constitution Committee about Sindre Finnes’ share trading while Erna Solberg was Prime Minister. Among the questions SMK answers is what the office did to check that Finnes sold his shares, as he had notified. – The Prime Minister’s office has neither the power nor the responsibility to oversee or control that the Prime Minister’s spouse sells shares. Furthermore, in any case, it will be the responsibility of each individual politician to assess their own competence, writes SMK. Furthermore, the civil service writes in the letter, which is signed by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, that SMK cannot have a full overview. – The Prime Minister’s office cannot have a full overview of what kind of financial and other conditions may at any time make the Prime Minister or other government politicians incompetent in the matters they have to deal with, but can provide the politicians with training and guidance in understanding and applying the rules of disqualification, it says . – This is also the reason why the Administration Act provides that it is the individual himself who must be attentive to and assess his own competence – Very serious The letter from the Prime Minister’s office today about Sindre Finnes’ share trading will be central to the consideration of the Control and Constitution Committee of the case. That’s what chairman of the committee Grunde Almeland from Venstre says. – It will be very interesting to go deeper into the answer from SMK about Erna Solberg’s competency assessments. It seems quite clear that Solberg may have been incompetent in up to several matters during his time as prime minister, and that is very serious, he says to news. – These are answers which, in my opinion and that of the Liberal Party, will be central to the process of the control committee when we approach the hearings later in the autumn, and will later draw conclusions on the matter. The committee will try to map the extent and frequency of breaches of professional integrity, both in Solberg’s case but also in the current government’s handling of
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