For the first time, the Storting has advanced strong criticism against a former prime minister. It happened when the integrity cases against Erna Solberg and several other top politicians were processed today. In total, five criticism proposals of varying strength, so-called date decisions, were adopted. Against Støre’s and Solberg’s governments for flawed routines related to ability assessments, against Labor profiles Anniken Huitfeldt and Tonje Brenna and against Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg personally. Solberg is subject to the strongest criticism the Storting can express, apart from a vote of no confidence, which can only be advanced to sitting members of the government. IMPOSSIBLE: Erna Solberg would have had to resign if the integrity case had cracked in the previous term, says Aps Frode Jacobsen. Photo: NTB Several parties, including both government parties, stated in the debate that Solberg could not have continued as prime minister if the breaches of integrity related to her husband’s stock trading had become known while she was head of government. – It is completely impossible to imagine, said the Labor Party’s Frode Jacobsen from the podium. The Conservative Party and the Progressive Party do not stand behind this conclusion, but both parties voted for the criticism resolution against Solberg – which thus received a unanimous majority. Taking the criticism to heart – I take the criticism from the Storting to heart, said Solberg himself in his speech during the debate on the competence cases. However, she added that she could have “commented and corrected” statements in the debate. – But today it is more important to emphasize that it is justified that I receive criticism. I should have protected myself better against violations of the rules of competence than I did. The criticism decision against Solberg has no direct consequences. The right-wing bodies have already expressed confidence in Solberg as party leader and candidate for prime minister at the election next year. Violations of the integrity rules led to the resignation of Culture Minister Anette Trettebergstuen (Ap) and Research and Higher Education Minister Ola Borten Moe (Sp) last year. The Storting also criticizes these two, but only in the form of comments because they clearly linked their own resignation to the competency cases. Of the top politicians who have been involved in various integrity cases, only Ap deputy leader and Minister of Industry Jan Christian Vestre avoids criticism for his case. It was different with the second of the Labor Party’s deputy leaders, Minister of Labor and Inclusion Tonje Brenna (Ap). She had to endure a lot of attention during the parliamentary debate, not least as a result of the motion of no confidence that the Progress Party announced earlier in the day. A no-confidence motion is a motion put before the Storting. If it is adopted, it means that the majority in the Storting no longer have confidence in the government or in a single minister, who is thus forced to resign. Avoided distrust Tonje Brenna repeated in the Storting that she made a mistake and assessed her own competence too late and too poorly when she was minister of knowledge. At the same time, she maintained that there has been no significant new information in the case in recent days, as the FRP and several other parties express. – The information mentioned in the press is not new information in the case, but has been explained by me in previous letters and statements to the committee, she said. CRITICIZED: Labor deputy leader Tonje Brenna avoided censure, but still receives criticism from the Storting. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB The Progress Party was, as news was able to tell earlier today, left alone on the no-confidence motion against Brenna when the Storting went to vote at 3 p.m. The Labor minister also avoided a decision on strong criticism for violating the rules of competence, despite the fact that the Conservative Party, KrF and MDG wanted this. Thanks to SV, Venstre and Rødt voting with the government parties, she was instead met with a milder criticism decision than Erna Solberg. A criticism decision is a solid scratch in the paint for Brenna as well, but it has no practical consequences for her work as a minister. Will have a new case The Green Party and Lan Marie Berg will now have a new case against Brenna in the control committee. – I think it is natural that the committee investigates the extent to which the obligation to provide information has been breached, says Berg to NTB. – The fact that the case will continue after today underlines how challenging it is for the committee that the new information came so close to our processing, she says further. Several parties are now opening new rounds in the control committee on Brenna’s case. – It is difficult to say whether she has breached her obligation to provide information to the Storting. It is a serious question and may have to be checked as a separate matter in the committee. This must be discussed in the control committee before I can say anything more, says committee leader Peter Frølich (H). Case mayor Grunde Almeland from the Liberal Party says he does not rule out that “we should look more closely at the relationship with the obligation to provide information in the Brenna case, if the committee thinks it is necessary”. MDG’s Lan Marie Berg sharpens her criticism of Tonje Brenna. Photo: William Jobling / NRKKrF deputy leader Dag Inge Ulstein sharpens his criticism of Tonje Brenna. Photo: William Jobling / NRKThe case mayor Grunde Almeland from Venstre does not intensify the criticism of Tonje Brenna. Photo: William Jobling / news No-confidence motion The no-confidence motion was tabled because the FRP believes Brenna has provided incorrect and misleading information to the Storting’s bodies. – Brenna has deliberately chosen to withhold information from the Storting during the processing of the control case. It is very serious, says Limi to news. – In a letter to the Storting on Friday, Minister Brenna admitted that she received information as many as five times in 2022 that the close link between the Wergelandsenteret and Utøya AS was not only a close collaboration, but also an economic collaboration. DISTRUST: Frps Hans Andreas Limi sharpened his reaction to Tonje Brenna and went from strong criticism to distrust. Photo: Kristian Skårdalsmo / news Limi refers to the letter Brenna sent to the control committee last Friday, about the link between the Wergelandsenteret and Utøya AS. The FRP leader believes the letter contains new information that the Storting should have had earlier. The proposal from the FRP today is the first no-confidence motion to be put forward against a member of Støre’s government. During Erna Solberg’s eight-year reign, six no-confidence motions were tabled, including against the head of government himself, following Solberg’s response to the Storting about the criticism from the National Audit Office related to a lack of terrorism protection. Neither this nor other motions of no confidence received a majority, but the then Minister of Justice Sylvi Listhaug (Frp) chose to resign herself following a motion of no confidence from Rødt. It was brought forward as a result of a post on Listhaug’s Facebook page, where the message was that the Labor Party put the rights of terrorists above the nation’s security.
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Strong criticism of Solberg – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
