TROMSØ (Dagbladet): – Jonas has let the genie out of the bottle.
This is what the political editor of the newspaper Nordlys, Skjalg Fjellheim, tells Dagbladet.
He is naturally talking about Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) and the government’s torch that was thrown into the election campaign in the north earlier this summer: the decision to electrify Melkøya.
But that was just the final straw, says Fjellheim. Ap’s contact with the north has disappeared gradually and in step with Støre’s leadership, he feels.
Gives greater hope: – Look to Tromsø!
– Does not understand own country
Fjellheim emphasizes that the allegations are not about Støre as a person, but about the central Ap leadership.
The Labor Party is a party in change, he believes.
– They seem to have lost contact with the grassroots in northern Norway. It cannot be ruled out that the “old” Labor Party would also have been in favor of electrifying Melkøya, but it is the timing and the process that are essential here. Before, they had strong listening posts in the north, and it would have been completely out of the question to decide something so fraught with conflict a month before the election campaign kicks off, says Fjellheim from the editor’s chair in the Nordlys editorial office in Tromsø.
– LOST CONTACT: Political editor of the newspaper Nordlys, Skjalg Fjellheim, believes Labor has lost contact with the north and no longer knows its own country. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet Show more
In the north, they no longer recognize the Labor Party, he believes.
– Ap no longer understands his own country. They defy both the population in the north, the business community – apart from Eastern Finnmark – but also some of Ap’s own mayors. Many of these mayors do nothing actively to say that they disagree with the decision, but I think they are terrified deep down.
Ap’s “display window”: – Shameful
Støre: – Honestly
Sp also was shaken when the decision came, Fjellheim further believes. The SP representatives from the north traveled home from the party’s national meeting in March thinking they had won an important victory.
Then came the U-turn from the government.
– But there are few in Finnmark who believe that the electricity development will be realized within six years when it is so conflicted in relation to land use and Sami reindeer herding, Fjellheim continues.
– There has been discussion, there is no doubt about that. It may be after the election as well, says Tromsø mayor Gunnar Wilhelmsen about the government’s decision.
COOKIE CHAOS: After the press conference with Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Ap) on Wednesday 30 August, several media outlets wanted an interview with the Foreign Minister. Video: NRK Show more
He also believes that it should have been said immediately and from day one that what is tied up by power to Melkøya at Statnett pending electrification can be “released” and used for other purposes.
But he has no doubt that more power development is needed in the north. Something has to be done.
– What is important now is that we work forward to find out how we will get that power. And the government says that you should not electrify Melkøya until we have power for “Rune in Narvik”, says Wilhelmsen to Dagbladet.
– Even more flying mad
Støre defends the timing by saying that he believes it was an “honest thing” to come out with this in the election campaign.
– This is a topic in social development that deserves to be discussed, says Støre and continues:
– North of Lofoten, there are registered projects of over 2,000 MW already today. Melkøya is just under 400 MW, to put it in context. If we do not set a great ambition to obtain new, renewable power in a way that is in line with Norwegian traditions, takes into account established industries, reindeer husbandry, nature and the environment, then this will stop. Then there is a threat to settlement, work and welfare. Not just in the Hammerfest region, but far down in the north, says Støre.
Never considered insider trading
Despite
Fjellheim believes that the population in the north associates the decision with higher electricity prices, conflict and natural destruction, and points out that opinion polls show that 85 percent of northerners believe electrification of Equinor’s gas factory is wrong.
– You can’t win elections with that. You cannot defy the will of the people without having consequences, and that is what Støre is doing. People fear that electricity will become much more expensive. Of more long-term consequences, it will be a huge problem for Ap if they do not get a massive expansion of electricity. It will be lose-lose.
In several places in the north, Ap is still doing relatively well. In Tromsø, Ap mayor Gunnar Wilhelmsen is well placed to retain the mayoral chain for another term.
Fjellheim believes this is in spite of, and not because of, Ap.
– Gunnar Wilhelmsen is not really a politician. He is not closely associated with the management, but is more of a local man. It has become his strength.
He also points out that even if Ap can retain power in Tromsø, they are generally at a much lower level than what they have historically done.
– It is relatively good, but only that.
– Don’t want visitors
A few days ago, a fourth integrity case came before the government this summer, this time with the experienced Labor politician and foreign minister Anniken Huitfeldt.
– Eating away at Ap’s political capital
To VG was Richard Storevik, trade union leader and local Ap politician, clear in his speech when he asked Støre to stay away from Western Norway, which they will visit from Sunday.
– I hope they stay away. We have a little over a week left of the election campaign and do not need help from Oslo, he told the newspaper.
There was also disappointment among the Labor representatives from the city debate in Trondheim on Wednesday.
– I felt enormous frustration, said the fourth candidate for Trondheim Ap, Trude Basso.
– I think it is unfair. I don’t think we deserved it now, she continued.
Fjellheim believes this is a regular occurrence in large parts of the country during this municipal election.
– In several places, shop stewards and local politicians hope that there will be no visit from the party leadership and a historically unpopular government. The attitude is that a historically unpopular prime minister and unpopular decisions such as Melkøya cannot give the local mayors support.
2023-09-02 15:55:50
#Dont #recognize
