Yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister and Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre had to take root among his own. Face to face with the mayor, group leader, local team leader and county leader, he had to answer how in the world the large municipality of Kristiansand was suddenly in play. While this blowout, the dishes, the dialogue, took place at the party’s party office in the center of Kristiansand, Sigbjørn Gjelsvik and local heroes in the Center Party sat at a restaurant 450 meters away. They drank apple juice from Søgne, smiled and laughed. For the Center Party, this could have been a signing. But it got tiring. Gjelsvik met a desperate municipal director, a resigned mayor before moving on to frustrated Søgne people and a disappointed business community. Gjelsvik was most concerned that the point was to hear the will of the people, not so much about divorce or not. Minister of Local Government Gjelsvik met the Business Association in Kristiansand at Tangvall and was told, among other things, that some feel that this government does not want Sørlandet well. Two mistakes do not become one right, another thought. Photo: Tor Erik Schrøder / NTB This was part of the depths that Gjelsvik did not encounter on 7 June. Then he was with the activists who flagged for union dissolution. Not the one in 1905, but the government’s news on the same day that the government would ask the state administrator to investigate a division of Kristiansand municipality and hold a referendum only in old Søgne and Sogndalen. Then the case exploded in a way the government was never able to predict. The debate climate in Kristiansand has been in a multi-year crisis. After many heated cases, 2022 has been a new spring. Now a lot was ripped up again. It may be difficult to foresee the consequences from a distance. Now the municipality is in conflict with the state. Labor locally in conflict with the party leader. The Center Party is locally divided. It is mobilized in various facebook groups. Municipal employees despair. Aps metropolitan mayors mobilize in support of Skisland and against Aps prime minister. Weakened Støre Now it is no longer just about local democracy, local identity or Kristiansand as the regional capital. Søgne should be the example of the SP in government should reverse the municipal reform to Solberg, not just the counties Viken, Troms and Finnmark and Vestfold and Telemark. Now Søgne has instead become a symbol of how the Labor Party and the Socialist People’s Party work together. About how Støre reads his own party. About how city-friendly Labor can be in government with SP a little over a year before a municipal council election campaign. Thus, it basically affects the local issue in Sørlandet both the Labor Party nationally, the country’s government and the Prime Minister personally. Støre is weakened by what has become a much bigger work accident than it should have been. Important Vedum election promise In 2017, Kristiansand, Søgne and Songdalen were merged by force, because Søgne always wanted to stand alone. Sogndalen wanted to be part of a municipality in which Søgne was also involved. This is the original mistake, seen with the activists in Søgne’s eyes. Everything else in the process can be traced back to this point. As a kind of reconstruction of the will of the people, one should get the issue of division on the agenda. They have that to the degree clear. The SP leader promised the people of Søgne that the will of the people should be heard. Now it is important for Sp to be a party that keeps its promises. Photo: Lars Nehru Sand / Lars Nehru Sand The Center Party has been concerned with listening to the people in municipalities that were merged by force. Søgne was one of quite a few municipalities Vedum constantly referred to in its election campaign last year. The government requests that the new municipalities themselves apply for division. It is difficult for a former small municipality to get a majority for in a new large municipality. Kristiansand municipality refused to send such an application in December. The action group in Søgne wanted the government on the field. Right after Pentecost, the state chose to use its right of initiative: The state administrator must study the consequences of division. The key is that the people in Søgne and Songdalen must be heard. Kristiansand refuses to hold a referendum, it can be formally adopted this week. If the municipality stands its ground, the state administrator must hear the people in a different way. For example, through a digital election or a poll. Still uncertain how the inhabitants will be heard Today’s meetings only showed how far apart the Minister of Local Government and Kristiansand Municipality are. It is still unclear how the inhabitants will be heard, but it is also clear that this process will happen anyway. Labor mayor Jan Oddvar Skisland and Minister of Local Government Sigbjørn Gjelsvik disagree on much even after yesterday’s meeting. In the middle political adviser and municipal council representative Jannike Arnesen (Labor). Photo: Tor Erik Schrøder / NTB The hearing must in any case take place after the state administrator has presented his review of the case around the turn of the year. Then the debate will ignite again, facts will be interpreted and assessments will be met. Then the burden of proof will also be reversed. Until now, the battle has been about who has been run over and who has made mistakes. When the report is on the table, one must argue with what is best. Until now, the discussion has been about the fact that it was not right to merge. It is largely on the terms of the Søgne activists. When the report is available, the burden of proof will be why it is correct to split it up. It’s a discussion the big city supporters can win, if you work for it. Since the decision became known, Skisland has probably not appeared as Søgne’s best friend. As Kristiansand has appeared, not all statements have been as advertising for Søgne and Sogndalen’s inhabitants to count. Maybe today’s meetings were needed to shake the mind off the government. In real politics, not much new came out of the meetings. Støre takes self-criticism that the municipality was not involved earlier. The process goes its own way, against the political majority in the will of the municipalities. We do not know how the inhabitants should be heard. But we know that this case will be bad publicity and energy-losing for many involved for a long time to come. Photo: Tom-Richard Hanssen Olsen / news
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Pointed root and tiring signing journey – Expression
