After more than 25 years as an active member of the Progress Party, Christian Tybring-Gjedde was kicked out of the party last week. He thus completes his fifth parliamentary term as an independent representative from Oslo. This triggers certain rights – such as a grant of almost half a million kroner. But he does not have the right to choose a parliamentary committee himself. FRONT: Christian Tybring-Gjedde was a figurehead for Oslo Frp last election. Now he is finished in the party. Photo: Ali Zare / NTB – It is the election committee, which consists of 37 representatives of the Storting, which decides the members of the specialist committees, section leader Malin Nossum in the legislative secretariat in the Storting’s administration told news. This also applies if members are to be transferred from one committee to another during the parliamentary term. Will continue Christian Tybring-Gjedde tells news that he would prefer to continue meeting in the Storting’s foreign affairs and defense committee, where he has held a seat for the past three periods. – It covers topics where I have knowledge and commitment. I would like to believe that my voice within defense and foreign affairs creates a few more nuances in debates where there is far too often a political consensus, he says to news. Until he was stripped of his party membership, Tybring-Gjedde was the Progress Party’s spokesperson on defense and foreign affairs. He also regularly met in the Extended Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (DUUFK), where the agenda and meeting schedule are exempt from public disclosure. Successor Now the FRP must hunt for Tybring-Gjedde’s successor in the important committee. Fair enough, party leader Sylvi Listhaug is herself a member of the foreign affairs committee, but it is common for the largest parties to leave the responsibility as faction leader to someone other than the party leader. For example, Ine Eriksen Søreide is the foreign policy spokesperson for the Conservative Party, although Erna Solberg also sits on the same committee. – As of today, it is too early to say anything about possible changes in the Frp’s parliamentary group as a result of Christian Tybring-Gjedde’s exclusion, says assistant general secretary Helge Fossum. The Storting does not have its first scheduled meeting until October, so the FRP has plenty of time to sort out the mess. The party has some training in this, because also in the previous period the FRP ended with one representative in the red. It happened when Ulf Leirstein resigned from the party in April 2019. He remained seated where he was, in the control and constitutional committee, as an independent representative. Getting money If Christian Tybring-Gjedde is allowed to continue on the foreign affairs committee and the FRP wants a representative there in addition to Listhaug, the committee must be expanded by one member. Today, the committee has 17 members. If it is to be extended, this must be dealt with by the Storting in plenary session – following a recommendation from the selection committee. When Tybring-Gjedde loses his connection to the Frp’s parliamentary group, he also does not get advisory help from the party’s secretariat at the Storting. Instead, he receives half of the so-called representative-based subsidy, which on an annual basis is NOK 943,882. The purpose of this support is to ensure that the representatives are able to exercise their parliamentary duties, for example by paying advisers. The fact that Tybring-Gjedde receives NOK 471,941 on an annual basis is due to the rules at the Storting, which state that representatives who resign from their Storting group and become independent must only receive half the representative subsidy. At the same time, 100 percent of the representative-based grant to the party group is reduced, in this case Frp. Tybring-Gjedde also does not get the opportunity to meet in two different Storting committees, as Rødt’s Bjørnar Moxnes did when he was the sole representative in the previous period. – An independent representative is not to be considered a party group and is therefore not covered by this exception, says section leader Malin Nossum in the Storting to news Published 22.07.2024, at 19.37
ttn-69
Hunting for Tybring-Gjedde’s successor – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
