Several went five when Klassekampen wrote that the Conservative politician “does like other rich Norwegians and moves to Switzerland”. NTB cited the case, but it was all an April fool’s joke.
“- I have chosen Lugano as my new place of residence, says Astrup to Klassekampen
The tax regime in the Swiss city is one of the reasons why Astrup chooses to move.
– It is neither the cheapest nor has the lowest taxes, but in return it is a great place with a central location in Europe, he explains.
He emphasized that tax considerations played a minimal role in the conclusion, but says that the au pair ban has been decisive.
– Jonas Gahr Støre has said that it is ordinary people’s turn. Who is more common than an au pair? says Astrup to the newspaper.”
This is some of what NTB quoted The class struggle in his case on Saturday at 00:26.
Withdraw the case
Several media relayed the case from the news agency, including VG.
– The class battle tricked us into rolling around, says duty manager Stian Drake in NTB to VG.
At 01.11 they write that “NTB is withdrawing proceedings against Nikolai Astrup who we have quoted from Klassekampen”.
Contrary to the Constitution
Nikolai Astrup himself also confirms to VG that he has no plans to move to Switzerland, but does not wish to comment on the matter.
Moving to another country would in any case be impossible for Astrup, if he were to be elected to the Storting at the same time, as this is in conflict with the Constitution.
Astrup, who has been elected to the Storting from Oslo since 2009, is Norway’s richest elected official, with a fortune of around NOK 353 million, according to Klassekampen.
Venstreside newspaper also joked that Astrup “retains his place in the Storting and will be allocated commuter accommodation”.
Ended with “April Fool’s Day”
The custom of fooling the gullible on April 1st is widespread across Europe and North America, and several media outlets have had a tradition of fake cases on this day, in an attempt to fool their readers.
In recent years, the largest media in Norway have nevertheless failed to publish such cases on 1 April. Despite the fact that it may be a popular tradition, the focus on fake news and conspiracy theories has led to more people being more careful about what is published.
– I experience April Fools’ Day as a task of the past for the media. Eventually it becomes difficult to see what is true and what is not, news editor Karianne Solbrække told TV 2 Our country about last year’s absence of jokes.
– We had a discussion during the period when “fake news” was on the agenda, and we decided to drop it. I do not believe that all newsrooms should stop doing this, but we have made our assessment, said news editor at NRK, Knut Magnus Berge, to the same newspaper.
