– It would be very alarming if one were to find that there was something wrong with the grant I have received, says daily manager Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt of the Raftostiftelsen. The human rights organization in Bergen has received NOK 15 million in operating subsidies from the Ministry of Education and Culture over the past two years. Due to the disqualification case surrounding Minister of Education Tonje Brenna, this money will now be reassessed, the ministry informs news. This applies to the operating grant the Raftostiftelsen received for 2022 and 2023, and basic permission for the Wergelandssenteret’s school project on 22 July. Altogether, 25 million are at stake. INNOCENT INTERFERENCE: Daily manager Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt of the Raftostiftelsen believes the disqualification of the Minister of Knowledge cannot have consequences for the grant the foundation received last year and this year. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news Friends with the chairman On Wednesday, Brenna explained herself in a letter to the control and constitution committee at the Storting. There she summarized, among other things, that she should not be involved in the subsidy to the Rafto Foundation in 2022 and 2023. The Rafto Foundation has an annual budget of at least NOK 23 million. 85 per cent of the income is public subsidies, and almost half of this comes from the Ministry of Education and the Directorate of Education. Until now, Brenna’s disqualification has been particularly linked to the fact that in May she appointed Frode Elgesem as chairman of the human rights organization Wergelandsenteret. As AUF’s legal aid lawyer, Elgesem has been a good friend of Brenna after she survived the terrorist attack on Utøya on 22 July 2011. Brenna has also declared herself incompetent because she is close friends with three of the board members of Utøya AS. But half a year before Brenna became a minister in October 2021, Elgesem became chairman of the Raftostiftelsen in Bergen. Kobbeltvedt nevertheless believes that disqualification should not or cannot have consequences for the finances of the Raftostiftelsen. – In our view, Tonje Brenna has not been involved in any changes in the subsidy to us during her time as Minister of Knowledge. Support for operation and development The Raftostiftelsen received the following subsidies from the state in these years: NOK 7.5 million as a fixed operating subsidy from the Ministry of Education this year and NOK 7.3 million in 2022. NOK 3 million from the Ministry of Education in 2022 for preliminary design of an expansion and reconstruction of The Raftohuset, which will probably cost NOK 85 million. NOK 1.5 million from the Directorate of Education in 2022. In addition, the Raftostiftelsen receives a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NOK 9 million in 2022), which is not relevant when it comes to the qualifications of the Minister of Education. 10,000 school pupils visit Raftohuset every year, but the building is cramped, without a lift and not universally designed. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news Brenna should not have been given an operating subsidy news has asked the ministry to specify which of these subsidies Brenna believes she should not be involved in. The Ministry of Education states the following: As a result of her disqualification, Minister Brenna should not be involved in presenting proposals for The Storting on operating subsidies for the Raftostiftelsen in the budget for 2022 and 2023. The grant of NOK 3 million for planning the development and upgrading of the Raftohuset came in the budget negotiations between SV and the government party in the Storting, and is thus not affected by Minister Brenna’s disqualification. That the grant to the Raftostiftelsen increased in 2022 was not Brenna’s or the Støre government’s decision. It was the previous government’s (Solberg government’s) support for the pedagogy project Democratic preparedness against racism and anti-Semitism that gave an increase of NOK 1.4 million in the annual grant to the Rafto foundation. The Raftostiftelsen received NOK 3 million last year for a preliminary project to expand the Raftohuset, but the initiative for the permission came from the Storting and not the Minister of Knowledge. Photo: Raftostiftelsen/Architektselskapet 3RW Wrong permission for 22 July project Furthermore, the ministry wrote that Brenna should not have been involved in proposing basic permission for the school project “22. July and democratic citizenship” in the budget for 2022 and 2023. The subsidy for the school project has been NOK 5 million for all years since 2020. The subsidy goes in its entirety to the Wergeland Centre, which is collaborating with Utøya AS on the project. The Wergelands Center has stated that Utøya AS received 2.3 million from the license in 2022. Tau’s “reserve minister” Development Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim (Sp) was appointed on 20 June as Minister of Settlements to deal with matters related to – or affected by – the disqualification of Brenna. The Council of State will now assess whether Brenna’s disqualification will have consequences for the operating grant the Raftostiftelsen received for 2022 and 2023, and for the school project in the same years. news has asked Tvinnereim several questions about what the financial consequences can or will be. She replies that she will now go through all the cases thoroughly and make further decisions in the case complex as soon as possible. – Only later can I answer these questions. I am also looking at how the Ministry of Education will in future handle matters related to the Raftostiftelsen, Utøya AS and the Wergelandsenteret, writes Tvinnereim. The Raftostiftelsen has applied to the Ministry of Education for NOK 83 million for a new building, but the incompetent minister cannot handle the application. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news Asking the government to keep its word Kobbeltvedt in the Raftostiftelsen notes in any case that Brenna cannot process the application they recently sent to the Ministry of Education for NOK 83 million to rebuild and expand the Raftohuset. – But I expect the government to stand by its promises in the Hurdal platform to increase support for peace and human rights organisations. He points out that premises in Bergen are both cramped and lack a universal design. – The Raftostiftelsen has received less government funding than the other organisations, and their premises are significantly better owned than our Raftohuset. With the planned expansions, we can double the capacity from 10,000 to 20,000 students annually on our teaching offerings, he says. The capacity in Raftohuset has been exceeded, and the Raftostiftelsen is planning an extensive expansion. Photo: Raftostiftelsen/Architektselskapet 3RW More about the subsidy to the Raftostiftelsen and the Wergeland Center The Ministry of Education emphasizes the following to news, in connection with the knowledge minister Tonje Brenna being incompetent in relation to Frode Elgesem, who is chairman of both the Raftostiftelsen and the Wergeland Center. The Raftostiftelsen is one of six peace and human rights centers that receives a grant from the Ministry of Education, but the operating grant is managed by the Directorate of Education, which is not part of the ministry. Subsidies to each individual center are passed on with price adjustments, there has not been enough redistribution of funds between the centres. The Directorate passes on grants to the six centres, accepts annual reporting and annual applications. The ministry writes in the budget proposal to the Storting how much each center should receive, so the Storting is informed about how it is planned to dispose of the leave on the budget item before they adopt the budget each year. The Wergelands center and their school project, on the other hand, are allocated directly from the Ministry of Education. The background is that this center was founded by the Storting and the Council of Europe jointly, and the Ministry of Education has been delegated administrative responsibility. The subsidy for the school project has not been price adjusted since the start in 2020.
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Have to look at distribution to the Raftostiftelsen and a 22 July project again – news Vestland
