Controversy in Oslo: City Council Leader’s Study Trip Sparks Debate and Calls for Repayment

The Oslo region paid for Eirik Lae Solberg’s study trip to Copenhagen. Former city council leader Raymond Johansen believes he should pay back.

– When you have pooped on your calf in this way, I think you should apologize and pay back, says Raymond Johansen to Aftenposten.

Earlier this spring, Aftenposten wrote about the inspection trip of city council leader Eirik Lae Solberg (H) to Copenhagen.

The trip was organized by the Høyre parliamentary group. No professionals from the administration of the head of the city council participated in the visit.

Nevertheless, it was the bill sent to the city of Oslo.

Bergen city council leader Christine Meyer (H) and Stavanger mayor Sissel Knutsen Hegdal (H) also took part. However, the party has paid for both occasions.

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Eirik Lae Solberg went on a Conservative tour and let the city of Oslo pay

Split the bill

Aftenposten has requested an overview of all the trips paid by the city of Oslo, the former director of the city council, Raymond Johansen, without anyone from the administration being involved.

During the eight years that Johansen ruled Oslo, this happened twice:

• In February 2017, Johansen participated in a working life conference in Brussels. The conference was organized by the European Trade Union Confederation.
• In December 2018, Johansen was in Lisbon to meet the mayor Fernando Medina on the subject of the European Green Capital. In Lisbon, he also attended a meeting with the European Socialist Party (PES).

In retrospect, it appears that the bill for the Lisbon trip was split between the city of Oslo and the Labor Party.

– I met the mayor associated with Oslo as the European capital of the environment, and that was fine. But the party and the city split the bill because of the part of the trip that belongs to the Labor Party, says Johansen.

– We decided that we thought it would be rude to let the town pay for the party of the trip.

– You must have an active relationship with this

The leader of the opposition in the city council Marthe Scharning Lund (Ap) was herself the chief of staff in the office of the head of the city council from 2015 to 2019.

– I think we had a conscious relationship with these things. When I was chief of staff, we had many discussions about travel habits, and the Lisbon trip shows the assessment we made.

She feels that the head of the city council has not been aware enough about the problem.

– The office of the head of the city council has said that it was the administration itself that believed that the city should raise the bill. Isn’t that right?

– I would say that you can ask the administration for advice, but as the most responsible political leader, you are the one who makes the decision.

– It is right that the city pays

The head of the city council Eirik Lae Solberg says that the office of the head of the city council has a sensitive relationship with which the city has to pay. He confirms that he traveled in this case because of being the head of the city council.

– The administration evaluated the program, with meetings with municipal authorities and youth services in Copenhagen, which was very relevant to me as a city councilor and to the city’s work with young people from outside and the fight against juvenile delinquency.

So he thinks it’s right that the city paid for the trip.

Regarding the statement from Raymond Johansen, he says he does not need to comment on statements from the former head of the city council, but:

– I notice that Johansen, among other things, has traveled to Brussels for a conference of LO and trade unions paid for by the city, without anyone from the administration present.

– I am confident that the administration made the same assessments for that trip, as I did when I went to Copenhagen to learn how we can fight against youth crime and youth alienation.

– Disk promotion

Marthe Scharning Lund says the following about the trip to Brussels:

– This is a complete blunder from Lae Solberg and is particularly indicative of a Tory Party town council leader who does not fully understand the role of the trade union movement in ensuring payment. ​safe and working conditions.

She says Johansen as a city council leader was invited to a panel with him ministers, politicians, business leaders and trade unions from across Europe, to discuss wages and working conditions.

– While Solberg has traveled on a clean score to Copenhagen with TV2.