The former SV leader now sits on the control and constitution committee at the Storting. All the competency cases will be investigated there this autumn, including the case about Sindre Finnes’ purchase and sale of shares while Erna Solberg was prime minister. – The core issue for the control committee is the extent of incompetence, to find out whether it is the case that the prime minister has been incompetent in handling cases, Lysbakken tells news. At the press conference where she talked about the man’s over 3,600 share deals, Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg herself pointed to one case of disqualification. This applied to Hydro, where the state is a major owner and Finnes bought and sold shares. – Then the question is whether the things appearing in the press now indicate that there may be more. It also touches on what lies behind this: could she have continued as prime minister if this became known, while she was prime minister? – Fierce seriousness Regardless of what happens in the days ahead, the case will be floodlit in a hearing in the control committee at the beginning of November. – There is tremendous seriousness in this matter. It was dramatic when this news came. The reason for that is that a prime minister’s competence is a particularly important matter, says Lysbakken. – In addition, questions have been raised related to the run-up to the election campaign and whether all the information that it is reasonable to believe that the voters should have when they went to the polls was there. It is also a serious problem. PUBLIC: Lysbakken asks the Conservative Party to consider providing insight into assessments about Solberg’s qualifications. Photo: William Jobling / news But the control committee also has a problem in the investigation of Finnes’ share purchase. It is that the ability to demand answers from resigned governments is limited. The same applies to the possibility of obtaining documents from the previous government period, acknowledges Lysbakken. – But Erna Solberg has accepted the invitation to attend the hearing. That means we have the opportunity to ask questions there. In addition, I expect that Solberg and the Conservative Party will benefit from answering the questions that come up and are presented to the public in the days and weeks to come, says Lysbakken, and adds: – The outgoing government may in some cases choose to release information. It should consider that. Denies access news has requested access to documents from the Prime Minister’s office dealing with assessments of Solberg’s competence, but has been refused. The reason for exempting these documents from the public is that they are internal to the organisation. Rødt has already requested that the documents be made public, according to VG. – Would you specifically ask the Conservative Party to contribute to these documents becoming public? – In principle yes, but I do not have a full overview of exactly these documents’ grades if they have access to them, says Lysbakken. He also warns that the committee will question whether Solberg and the Prime Minister’s office could have previously done more to gain an overview. In addition, the committee will have “a full overview of the share portfolios of all who have been ministers in recent years”. – Has responsibility Several commentators already concluded on Monday that Erna Solberg cannot be the Conservative Party’s prime ministerial candidate in 2025, due to her husband’s buying and selling of shares. Lysbakken emphasizes that he has deep sympathy for Solberg in the situation she is in. – But it is still the case that a minister is responsible for everything that happens on his watch. It is not about personal guilt, you can have political responsibility even if you are not personally guilty. It is important to distinguish between the two things, says SV-toppen. – What we are talking about here is not Erna Solberg’s moral judgement, but it is nevertheless the case that the mistakes that have occurred on her watch, she has a political responsibility for. – Isn’t the consequence of what you are saying, when we are faced with such a big scandal as this, that Solberg is not fit for that job? – I don’t want to conclude on that yet. And that’s simply because we don’t have the full overview of the scope yet. Lysbakken says he also feels confident that the cases of Solberg and Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Ap) will be dealt with thoroughly, despite the fact that the two largest parties each have their own deeply problematic case. – I trust that the Conservative Party and Labor Party both see how important what we are now standing for is for trust in democracy and the elected representatives. And that they will therefore enter into it with the seriousness required. I have no reason to believe otherwise. Lysbakken himself resigned as a minister in 2012 because he had allocated money to a feminist self-defense course that sprung from the youth party of SV.
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Here are the questions the Storting requires answers to – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
