How the dissolution of the merged counties Viken and Troms and Finnmark will take place is a topic in the government negotiations between the Labor Party and the Socialist People’s Party.
In a briefing to the county council after the election, county councilor Tonje Brenna said that a dissolution of the large county of Viken is complicated and labor-intensive, that an impact assessment and consultations must be carried out.
– Therefore, it is important that the county council case is thoroughly clarified and investigated. We must ensure an orderly, legitimate and good process. We must ensure that we have all the necessary knowledge on the table, so that we our democratic bodies make good and well-founded decisions, she said.
PROMISED DISSOLUTION: On 1 October 2019, a red-green majority presented Viken’s platform. One of the promises was the dissolution of the large county. From left Anne Beathe Tvinnereim (Sp), Tonje Brenna (Labor Party), Kristoffer Robin Haug (MDG) and Camilla Sørensen Eidsvold (SV). MDG and SV left the county council just over a year ago. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB
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– Too long
According to Brenna’s plan, the county council can start the process of dissolution no earlier than 22 February.
It is a schedule Sp veteran Per Olaf Lundteigen from Buskerud is not happy with at all. He expects that the Social Democrats and the Labor Party during the government negotiations in Hurdal will agree to dissolve Viken, so that a dissolution committee can already be set up this autumn.
– No no no. This is taking way too long. This issue must now be clarified politically in the government platform and then implemented. Now there has been enough talk, Lundteigen says to Dagbladet.
In the briefing to the county council, Brenna said that the county council will ensure a quick assessment of the consequences of a dissolution of Viken.
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Good process
– Such a study must address proposals for the process, new boundaries, consequences for, among other things, finances, employee security, sustainability, local democracy, problem solving and that one still ensures good services to our citizens, Brenna said in the statement which is reproduced on Viken’s website .
Part of the report will also deal with the costs of dissolution. It is estimated that the merger has cost close to NOK 340 million, Dagbladet is informed.
Brenna does not want to comment on the matter during the government negotiations.
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Lundteigen rejects the need for an impact assessment.
– There was no impact assessment before the merger, and we do not need it now either. The bay was cut through, now it has to be cleaned up. The bay will be dissolved so that we have three counties, Buskerud, Akershus and Østfold in the election in 2023, says Lundteigen.
He states that the new government can decide on dissolution without reservation about local decisions.
Viken is governed by the Labor Party and the Center Party, after SV and MDG left the county council just over a year ago. Deputy leader of Sp, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, is county councilor for climate and environment.
The county council’s political platform states: “With a new Storting after the election in 2021, the county council will present a case to the county council with a request to the Storting to dissolve Viken.”
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Consequences and opportunities
Brenna said in the statement that the parliamentary election, which gave a new majority, means that the county council, in line with the platform, begins to prepare for dissolution. She wants to ensure «good and thorough professional analysis of the consequences and possibilities of a resolution. Good participation and close dialogue with the employees and their organizations is ensured. “
There are about 12,000 employees in Viken who will be affected by the dissolution.
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This is the plan:
* The county council prepares a case for dissolution with a good and thorough professional analysis of the consequences and possibilities of a dissolution.
* When the professional case basis is ready, the county council will make its assessment and make a recommendation in the case.
* The case is then sent for consideration in the county council and its committees. This will probably happen in early January next year.
* In parallel with the consideration of the case in the county council’s committees, a round of consultation can be carried out with the municipalities in Viken and other relevant partners.
* With this progress, the case is expected to be considered in the county council no earlier than February 2022.
* If the county council chooses to send an application for dissolution, the county council will initiate its own study work to contribute to the ministry’s study, and create an appropriate organization of the work with dissolution.
* Further process after this will depend on proceedings in the Storting.
This is what the Labor Party has stated in the program: “If forcibly merged counties want to change their boundaries in order to better solve the tasks, the Labor Party in government will enter into dialogue with the counties to achieve this in a sensible, comprehensive and responsible manner.”
Sp has decided this: “Repeal mergers approved in the parliamentary periods 2013–2021 if previous municipalities and / or counties so wish, if necessary with a referendum.”
In the election campaign, SP leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum stated that the process of dissolving the “forced merger” of Troms and Finnmark must start immediately. He has not been as firm about the process in Viken.
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