CITY COUNCIL: Lan Marie Berg is city councilor for the environment and transport in Oslo municipality.
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OSLO RÅDHUS (VG) Oslo City Council must resign after the no-confidence motion against MDG’s City Councilor Lan Marie Berg gained a majority. Raymond Johansen says he wants to form a new city council with MDG and SV.
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City councilor Raymond Johansen (Labor Party) announced in the city council meeting on Wednesday that he will ask cabinet questions.
The proposal received a majority and the city council in Oslo has resigned.
– I draw the conclusion that the city council resigns, says city council leader Raymond Johansen after the vote.
Until further notice, Oslo Municipality will be governed by a business ministry. This means that the city council sits until a new city council is formed, but that they do not have to make political decisions beyond what is absolutely necessary.
Lan Marie Berg says that for the time being she is a city councilor in the Ministry of Business.
She will not be a city councilor again in a possible new city council, because she will be in the Storting this autumn.
– I have given notice that it is not relevant for me to sit on a new city council, says Berg.
Johansen: Wants a new MDG collaboration
Mayor Marianne Borgen (SV) says that on Thursday she will discuss how to solve the situation with the group leaders in the city council – and see what parliamentary basis there is for a new city council.
Raymond Johansen says that he has respect for the process to be carried out, but says that he wants to form a new city council with MDG and SV again.
– My ambition is to form a new city council with MDG and SV. I want to continue a parliamentary collaboration with Rødt, says Johansen.
MDG: Will govern with Labor and Social Democrats
MDG has already announced that they are positive about a new city council together with SV and Aps Raymond Johansen.
– We are prepared to take management responsibility with SV and the Labor Party. The collaboration has benefited us, says MDG’s group leader Sirin Stav to VG.
Rødt’s group leader, Eivor Evenrud, says that they will not support a bourgeois city council.
– The parliamentary basis is the same. SV’s Marianne Borgen will probably point to Raymond Johansen again, Evenrud says to VG.
RED: Group leader Eivor Evenrud. Photo: Jil Yngland
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Billion crack for water systems
The no-confidence motion against MDG City Councilor Lan Marie Berg was promoted by Frp after it became known that Oslo’s new reserve water supply will be NOK 5.2 billion more expensive than planned.
One of the key questions has been whether Berg should have notified the city council earlier about the increased costs of the project. The City Council first received information about the cost gap on 20 May this year.
VGs review of the case documents has previously shown that Berg was informed on at least five occasions about increased costs in either parts or the entire project – without informing the city council.
SEE ALSO: Raymond Johansen had problems turning on his camera during the city council’s deliberations.
Red decided
In the meeting, Raymond Johansen gave his full support to Lan Marie Berg and says that there is no basis for saying that the duty to provide information has been violated.
Johansen also said that the city council could have been involved earlier.
– It could have been wise to involve the city council at an earlier time in a suitable way, Johansen said in the meeting.
Rødt had the decisive vote and stood firm on the distrust of City Councilor Lan Marie Berg (MDG) in the City Council meeting. So did the other opposition parties in the city council.
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