Three cities have competed to house the new agency that will strengthen export controls after Russia invaded Ukraine. But not before the winner (Fornebu) was proclaimed did problems begin to loom large. There are mainly two reasons for the noise. One is the decision that the new agency will share premises with the National Insurance Agency (NSM). In December, it became known that the lease agreement to NSM has been financed through an unconstitutional loan. The second reason is that the decision breathes life into the debate about “Oslo-centrism”. According to the critics, the government has little to go on after this summer they defied professional advice and placed the new Økocrim center in the central Austland area (Gjøvik) instead of Trøndelag. In addition, the decision comes on top of several contentious localization debates in which Bergen has suffered defeat. – Bergen has the expertise and proximity to our largest export industries. So this is completely unacceptable, says Marit Warncke, who is the mayor of Bergen. – The government seems to have given up on moving government workplaces out of central Austlandet, says Bergen Mayor Marit Warncke. Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news – The whole country is set on spreading power Earlier this year, the “ocean capital” raised eyebrows when director of fisheries Bakke Jensen announced that he would move parts of the management of the Directorate of Fisheries to Northern Norway. The directorate has been run from Bergen since 1900. A recurring fault has been that the northerner Frank Bakke Jensen favors his own region and has hardly been to the Bergen office. Assurances from the director of fisheries that he is “very happy” when he spends the night in the dormitory in Bergen have not been enough to “convince” the westerners. At the same time, there has been unrest linked to a new marine center in Bergen. In two subsequent rounds, the government has both scrapped and continued the plans. Head of the think tank Initiativ Vest, Mathias Fischer, says that establishing new government workplaces outside the Oslo area is “the easiest thing the government can do to decentralize power”. – The whole country is excited about spreading power and expertise. I get worried when I see how little the government is interested in this, he says. Leader of the city council in Bergen, Christine B. Meyer (H), characterizes the Fornebu election as “completely incomprehensible”. – It is even more difficult to understand that it is happening on the watch of the Center Party, which is talking about taking the whole country into use, she says. Municipal Minister Erling Sande (Sp) answered this in question time on Wednesday 13 December. First, I would like to say that the government believes that government jobs should be well spread geographically and benefit the whole country. In line with the guidelines for the localization of government workplaces and government service production, it then becomes the individual department’s responsibility to ensure that these guidelines are followed in localization matters. The Ministry of Education is also responsible for making the final decision on location. Proposals to establish or move state enterprises either to Oslo, central municipalities in the Oslo area or other of the largest cities must always be submitted to the government with the relevant ministry’s assessment and recommendation. In this case, it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is the department in question, which has considered giving advice on the location of the new agency for the work with export control and sanctions. The Ministry of Local Government and District Affairs’ role in such matters is to guide the relevant ministries in line with the guidelines. Each individual case must be dealt with on its own, and three different localization alternatives must be assessed in which consideration of localization policy and sectoral policy goals are put in context. The requirement in the guidelines is also that one alternative must be in centrality class 3–6, i.e. that an alternative within that must also be assessed. In addition, the guidelines emphasize that the following considerations must be assessed: conditions for location, assessment of location policy reviews, cost-effectiveness and effective task solving, consequences for the labor market and any mitigating measures. These different considerations must be weighed against each other. In this case, I am also responsible for the use of the government’s guidelines and ensure that the findings are in line with the requirements of the guidelines, because that is my role. I would like to point out that the guidelines for the location of government workplaces and government service production have been made valid in a royal decree, and not laid down in the Ministry of Local Government and Districts. Read the full answer here. Export controls have been tightened after the invasion of Ukraine. But the location of the new agency is causing a stir. Pictured: Leader of the city council in Bergen, Christine B. Meyer (H). Meyer was state secretary when Labor and Administration Minister Victor Norman moved eight state inspectorates out of the capital in 2002. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB scanpix – This is what an Austlands-dominated government looks like Alfred Bjørlo (V) tells news that the government has target twice in a row”: First when they put the new Økocrim center in Gjøvik, and lastly when they put the new agency for export control in Bærum instead of Bergen. – This is the opinion of an Austlands-dominated government which does not have enough power to stand up to the centrifugal force in central Austlandet, he says. In the company of several other representatives of the Storting, he wants to know what lies behind the decision to locate the new agency for export control at Snarøyveien 36, at the same address as the much-discussed premises of the National Insurance Agency (NSM). The question was sent on 15 December, but the government has not yet responded. Documents that Bergens Tidende has seen show that parts of the vacant land were acquired shortly before the government decided to place the new unit at Fornebu. – It seems very special if an illegal loan contributes to a government location in violation of the guidelines for the location of government workplaces, writes Helge André Njåstad (Frp) in a written question to Minister of Justice and Emergency Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp). In response, the Minister writes that she will wait for a full review of the NSM case before answering whether the loan agreements have had “relevance for the letting of premises”. – Co-location gives no increase in the total rental expenses for the state, and lower investment costs, says Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. Photo: Amanda Iverse Orlich Security and financial reasons for sharing local Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide has previously explained that there are “heavy security reasons” why NSM and the new agency should share addresses. – In addition, co-location does not increase the overall rental costs for the state, and lower investment costs, he writes. The daily manager of Maritime Bergen, Sigvald Sveinbjørnsson, says the argument to the government has been “untidy”, symbolized by the fact that various ministries and ministers have fronted the issue. – I see that there can be an advantage with a short route to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the economic and security arguments are not threatening, and weaken confidence in the decision, he says. The idea of spreading the professional environment and taking government jobs out of the “Oslo region” has broad political support, but there are differing views on whether decentralization should also include the “number two cities” such as Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger. Alfred Bjørlo (V) believes that the Fornebu row is an embarrassment to the government in two ways: – Both because it seems obvious that the government guidelines for the location of government workplaces are broken, and because this case is mixed up with the NSM scandal. – The whole country is eager to spread power and expertise. I get worried when I see how little the government is interested in this, says leader of the think tank Initiativ Vest, Mathias Fischer. Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news
ttn-69
Bergen collapses after Oslo “ran away” with government jobs – news Vestland
