In 2021, Bergen Engines was sold to a Russian-controlled company for 150 million euros. Bergen Engines was initially not subject to the Insurance Act, and the alarm only went off when Bergens Tidende mentioned the hall. Even with the fact that the Solberg government pulled the emergency brake and stopped the agreement with Heimel in a safety valve in the legislation. Alternatively, the Russian company, which had connections to the Kremlin, could be given responsibility for maintenance of Norwegian military ships. Since then, what has been characterized as “lax handling of Norwegian defense technology” has been the driving force in the political work to tighten the legislation. – The Bergen Engines case showed the need to have good mechanisms and tools to ensure national security, said Justice and Emergency Services Minister Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) when she presented a draft of the new law in March. Two months later, the draft law is on the table of the Justice Committee in the Storting. It is not allowed to refer from the meeting until their recommendations are out, but news is aware that several in the opposition are critical of the draft from the government. Whether it is enough to overturn the legislative amendment remains to be seen. Emilie Enger-Mehl (Sp) criticized the Solberg government for “insurance policy naivety” when the Bergen Engines case broke out in 2021. The case represented her breakthrough as a national politician. Photo: Bjarte Johannesen / news Right, Liberal and Frp are critical According to the government, the proposed austerity measures (see below) should “increase national resilience” by catching and possibly intervening against foreign “threat actors” in Norway. This is how the government will tighten until the threshold is lowered for when acquisitions must be reported. Today, buyers must report to the governing authorities if they buy more than a third of a company that is subject to the Insurance Act. The government proposes to lower the limit to 10 percent. Both seller and buyer are required to report. New procedures for “screening” of transactions. The ministries can extend ownership control to include several businesses. At the same time, the government has specified that it is “important that disproportionate burdens are not placed on business or restrictions on trade with other countries”. – Bad insurance policy is not good business policy, says Sveinung Stensland, who represents Høgre in the Justice Committee. news is aware that the Liberal Party and the Progressive Party are also critical of the draft law (see below). – This is weak on the part of the government Per-Willy Amundsen, Frp – We had expected much clearer austerity measures from the government, so I would characterize this as weak on the part of the government. I base that on two things. One is how clear Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) was two years ago. The second is about what has happened in the meantime. Not since the Second World War have questions of national security been more important than they are today. At the time, I had quite sincerely expected the government to show a little more dynamism. – The criticism comes from you, the Right and the Left. But surely that is not enough to form a majority? – Well, we’ll see. I am a positive person, who lives in hope, and experience shows that a lot can happen on the upside. Ingvild Wetrhus Thorsvik (V) – The government’s proposal is disappointingly unambitious. The government has spent an enormous amount of time delivering this case to the Storting, then I would have expected them to come up with more measures and more extensive work. It is necessary, for example, to look at the boundary between the export control regulations and the Insurance Act, which the government has jumped over. Russia’s war against Ukraine and China’s international ambitions show that, with the current security policy situation, it is crucial that we take immediate action to further strengthen national security. Why the government has taken so long to do something about this is surprising for the Liberals, but it is at least good that the government has taken a first step in the right direction. But even if this proposal is necessary to strengthen our security on the one hand, it is still special that the government on the other hand allows Russian fishing vessels and research ships to sail in Norwegian ports, given the great threat we know they pose. It is also not very consistent that they have not given up on the free trade negotiations with China, which will tie us even closer to the authoritarian regime and be a potential risk for Norwegian business. The matter will be voted on in the Storting on 9 June. Stensland characterizes the new austerity measures as a pale and scaled-down version of a bill the Solberg government will send for consultation. – In opposition, Emilie Enger Mehl was loud and impatient. She has now been in charge for a year and a half, and nothing of substance has yet come, he says. news has presented the criticism to the minister, but has not yet received a reply. – There is reason to question whether the government has understood the seriousness. Covert acquisitions and investments pose a major threat to Norwegian insurance interests, says Sveinung Stensland (H). Photo: Siri Vålberg Saugstad / news – Shows that the government is behind Foreign policy spokesperson in the MDG, Carl Johansen, supports the proposal from the ministry, but adds that it “should have been in place a long time ago”. Furthermore, he wants stricter rules regarding the sale of material that can be used for intelligence. – Buyers of high-tech material from Norwegian companies should be checked to a much greater extent. The same applies to academic collaboration. Allowing a propaganda apparatus at a Norwegian university undermined our own security. On Monday, Dagens Næringsliv reported that the government approves that an investment fund in Abu Dhabi, which has invested several billion dollars in Russian companies, can buy into the fiber network company GlobalConnect. The company’s customer list includes several businesses of critical importance in Norway. Among the customers are the Directorate for Social Security and Preparedness (DSB), the Emergency Network and the Norwegian Customs Service. On the same day, Nome municipality in Telemark stated that they are “strongly concerned” that Chinese interests will get their hands on “their” mineral in the Fens field. As a matter of national protection, they propose a Norwegian-owned, state-owned company to operate the mines on Fen. A solution Business Minister Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) says no to. – Both of these cases show that the government is behind when it comes to foreign acquisitions of strategically important companies, says Sveinung Stensland (H). – The government should stop the acquisition, says Per-Willy Amundsen (Frp) about the government approving that an investment fund in Abu Dhabi, which has invested several billion dollars in Russian companies, can buy into the fiber network company GlobalConnect. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB – We must avoid new Bergen Engines cases The Defense Commission was appointed by the government in 2021 to assess which path Norway should take in the coming years. In the report, which was presented in March, it is said that the world has become darker and that the whole country “must think more broadly” about preparedness and safety. The report comes on top of the Storting report Social security in an uncertain world (2020), which announced that there was a “need to assess the need for more measures to strengthen the ability to prevent unwanted investments in Norwegian businesses”. – The legislative amendment must lead to us avoiding new Bergen Engines cases, says Gunnar M. Ekeløve-Slydal, who is assistant general secretary of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. He adds that he “expects that the legislative changes ensure that sensitive industry and technology cannot be bought by actors who can threaten Norwegian security and sovereignty”. – The legislation and the new procedures must lead to the necessary assessments being made, even if the matter does not end up in the media. This is what the hearing bodies say. The National Insurance Agency (NSM) All suppliers in safety-rated purchases should be covered by the obligation to report according to the Insurance Act, also when the supplier gains access to an object worthy of protection or infrastructure or information rated AVGRENSA. These suppliers will also have knowledge of values worthy of protection to which there is a need to control who gets access. The suppliers can also have several clients so that the sum of the information they have can be large, even if they are not supplier approved. The Norwegian Defense Research Institute (FFI) FFI proposes that a regulatory authority be established for the responsible ministry to define properties or groups of properties that are subject to the reporting obligation for sale/letting. In the case of sale or letting, the reporting obligation will be linked to the property instead of the owner. Such an arrangement will result in greater predictability and security linked to the safeguarding of national security. FFI therefore proposes that regulatory permission be given to shape and update a list of defined areas where the sale and letting of property trigger the obligation to report. Næringslivets Hovedorganisation (NHO) In general, we would like to point out that existing, proposed and assessed rules will lead to private businesses having to obtain and have insight into security assessments and risk assessments. When private businesses are to be imposed with such resource-demanding obligations, it must be a prerequisite that those who are to make decisions and supervise that the rules are followed, have the necessary insight and expertise. Police Security Service (PST) We see that there is a need for a better overview of potential acquisitions of businesses that may be in conflict with national security interests. PST has received information that businesses that previously had their application for an export license rejected have later been tried to be bought up by interests from the same country to which they were tempted to export. Seen in this way, approval/rejection of a license application can be one of several indications of unwanted foreign interest in a business. It would probably be most relevant to have an overview of the refusal. The intelligence ship “Marjata” is among the ships that have engine technology from Bergen Engines. Photo: Nils Mehren / news
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New insurance law criticized for not being strict enough – news Vestland
