With that, the entire political cabal in the western capital is ready. At 11 o’clock, the new council members will be presented at a press conference at the town hall. The new city council, which consists of Høgre, the Center Party and the Progressive Party, is a minority city council that has support in the city council from several parties: the Industry and Business Party, the Pensioners’ Party and Bergenslisten have entered into a cooperation agreement with the three city council parties. Takes over from Bakervik The Meyer city council takes over from Rune Bakervik’s (Ap) city council. Bakervik resigned during the previous town council meeting, 18 October. Since then, his city council has functioned as a business ministry, i.e. a city council that functions in an interim period and has limited authority. Rune Bakervik (Ap) has finished as city council leader in Bergen. Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news Last Monday it became clear that Marit Warncke (H) is the new mayor of the western capital, while Thomas Flesland (Frp) is the new deputy mayor. Conversations, soundings, negotiations After the election on 12 September, Høgde was by far the largest party in Bergen. In the period after the election on 12 September, Høgre held discussions and probes with several parties in the center and on Høgresida. Central to the talks was one issue: light rail over Bryggen. For years, the case has been discussed. The big question has been whether the light rail should go over Bryggen, in front of the Unesco-marked wooden houses, or behind Bryggen, in a tunnel. In May, the final decision was made which said that the light rail would not go in a tunnel, but that Bryggen should be railed. Although a “final” decision has been made about where the light rail will go, Høgre is now open to a rematch with a new Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news Before the election, Høgre guaranteed that a rematch was not relevant. Nevertheless, this matter would prove to be central to the discussions with potential partners. On 14 September, Meyer said that Høgre was “completely uncompromising” that there would be no rematch for the light rail. Then both the FRP and the Center Party withdrew from the polls, and Meyer sat again with Venstre and the Christian People’s Party. The problem was that this did not give a majority in the city council. But Høgre turned around again and turned towards the party that does not want the light rail to Åsane to run along Bryggen. This time it was KrF and Venstre that withdrew from the collaboration. The Labor Party also tried to get a collaboration with Høgre, primarily to save the light rail plans. But after several weeks of soundings, conversations and negotiations, the result was clear on 6 October: Høgre had found agreement on city council cooperation with five other parties: the Progress Party, the Center Party, the Bergen List, the Industry and Business Party and the Pension Party will secure a governing city council in Bergen. Christine Meyer was in the executive chair when the agreement was signed. Photo: Linnea Skare Oskarsen / news Together, the six parties have a majority in the city council. Cooperation agreement Part of the reason why it has taken time to put in place a governing majority in Bergen is that the election result was very tight. Neither the left nor the right had a pure majority with their “usual” partners. Last week, Meyer told VG that part of the reason why Høgre lost voters towards the end of the election campaign was that they “had to take a stand on issues”. – My analysis is that it went well until I was forced to take a stand on issues. Then I lost voters, I felt. – The essence of politics is to take a stand, right? – Yes, but when the positions divide people, we end up pushing voters away from us, she told the newspaper. City council leader in Bergen, Christine Meyer. Photo: Linnea Skare Oskarsen / news One of the points of view that has divided Bergen’s politics is precisely the light rail issue. It was also one of the important points when the cooperation party signed the Klosterhagen agreement. Central to the cooperation agreement between the six parties are four points: Agreement on urban rail settlement Agreement on cooperation on the budget Agreement on electoral technical cooperation Higher must go to the cooperation party first in major, principled matters
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This is Christine Meyer’s new city council in Bergen – news Vestland
