Twelve new questions are being asked by the two government parties at today’s meeting of the control and constitutional committee, which began at 2 p.m. – I feel that Solberg answered very roughly and evasively to a number of questions in the hearing. That is according to Storting representative Nils Bjørke, who sits on the control and constitutional committee for the Center Party. Most of the questions he now demands answers to are about what changes Erna Solberg made to the regulations when she was prime minister. The rules can be found in the handbook for political management. CONTROL HEARING: Conservative leader Erna Solberg answered a number of questions in the Storting on 7 November. Photo: NTB Bjørke believes Solberg did not tighten the rules well enough. – She says that she has tightened the regulations, but we can’t find that back in the books. Then there must only be oral regulations that have been tightened, and we are a little unsure whether that is good enough, says Sp-toppen. He believes that it is not clear from the handbook that Solberg tightened the competence regulations for spouses’ share trading in 2021, as she said in the hearing. – In the handbook, it is clear that close relatives with joint finances have the same position as yourself, in relation to share trading, that you should be careful about it, says Børke. Marathon hearing It became known this autumn that Erna Solberg’s husband Sindre Finnes carried out almost 3,300 share transactions while she was prime minister. After a series of letters back and forth between the committee and Solberg, the Conservative leader explained himself in detail about the integrity case in the open hearing on 7 November. But now Ap and Sp are not satisfied with the answers from Solberg. The two government parties also raise the question of Solberg’s competence in the processing of the license case for Lyse Kraft in 2021. As news has previously mentioned, on 21 October 2020 the news came that Norsk Hydro was to enter into an important collaboration with publicly owned Lyse AS. They were to establish a joint power company that would take over power production in the Røldal-Suldal watershed. Finnes bought out Hydro on 21 October and sold out on 23 October. Børke is not satisfied with the answer he received about the matter in the hearing. – I believe she was incompetent in an important matter, a single decision, which should certainly have been handled with more seriousness, he says. This is how Solberg answered in the hearing About the license case surrounding Lyse Kraft: Børke (Sp): – A week before the news that Norsk Hydro was to enter into a large and important collaboration with Lyse Kraft DA, Sindre Finnes bought 4,500 shares in Hydro, and the shares rose significantly afterwards. How do you think it was perceived by the local population, who are greatly affected by the merger, this mix-up between your private interests and handling in government? Solberg (H): – This is a question that indicates insider trading, which Økokrim clarified very clearly on Friday. They have gone through these purchases and said they cannot find any indication of insider trading, or that he was sitting with inside information at the time. It is not about my competence. Now, Økokrim has been clear in this case, and I hope that hints of insider trading can also be put away. Aydar (R): – Ok, so you assessed your competence in connection with Norsk Hydro in 2016, and you did that on your own. Is it then correct that it is only you yourself who has considered yourself competent to deal with matters of importance to Norsk Hydro? Have other competency assessments been done over time? We know – and you said so in the news Debate yourself – that you had up to NOK 150,000-200,000 in shares in Hydro in 2020. Solberg (H): – It’s like that I made a competence assessment, and it was therefore verbal discussed against Sindre’s ownership interests in connection with the presentation and the change in the law in 2016. I am unable to pinpoint exactly when in 2015 or 2016 there was a discussion as to whether it had any significance or not. It was then clear that it had not. When the Lyse Kraft license case came up later, in 2021, I was aware that Sindre had increased its investments in Norsk Hydro, but not so much that it was sufficient for the outcome to have been different at that time. – That case also had a completely different side. It’s that it wasn’t difficult. There was no question, there were no major discretionary assessments related to that matter. It was a situation where you had a legal claim to obtain a license as long as the actual requirements were met, and it was a matter that went straight through in the government. About the handbook for political leadership: Solberg: – It is very important to say that there is a difference between the handbook from 2013 and the handbook from 2021. Under matters of competence, something has been added in 2021 compared to 2013. It was not initially seen as a challenge that you had shares at the time, or that you traded a little with shares, i.e. in the form that you adjusted the portfolio, sold and did other things in that context. But you would have to have an overview of it to know about the competence. Solberg: – Throughout the years I was prime minister, there was a gradually stricter practice in this area. Recently, for example, it was agreed that shares had to either be sold or frozen, or a combination of these. Solberg: – In that context, particularly close relatives were never brought up at that time. Close relatives were clarified. We have three versions of the handbook, there is the one in 2013 and the one in 2017, and in 2021 there was a clearer piece related to impartiality towards the shares themselves. But I have never had any doubts that impartiality applies to close relatives. It has been part of what we started with already in 2013. It is my opinion that it was clear to everyone. Solberg: – It hasn’t changed that much, but it is clearer in the 2021 version of the rules that spouses’ shares also come in as equity. Continued confidence The control committee is almost done with processing Solberg’s case. It also has a number of other competence cases lying on its table. But a week and a half ago, Solberg announced that she will continue as leader of the Conservative Party. Thus, she will also be the party’s candidate for prime minister in 2025. – Børke, is it the case that you now just want to keep this issue warm? – I had thought that after the hearing we would get this done. But after the answer I got to my last questions, in which she rejected this impartially after Økokrim had assessed the case, I was a bit provoked, he says, and elaborates: – I think there are two completely different things. We are talking about impartiality, we are talking about the fact that here a share purchase has been made just before an important decision has been made, and then it is impartiality that I am concerned with. – Why didn’t you finish this in the hearing? – You have your five minutes, you don’t have much more time, so I didn’t have time to get into it. Børke does not believe that the new questions he will now send will lead to the case being postponed. – What do you really want to achieve with this? – One must be able to be sure that decisions made by a government and a prime minister, that the prime minister is competent in the matters that have been made – or if not, that it has been handled in a proper way.
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