Farewell to Viken – welcome to Akershus, Østfold and Buskerud – VG

The county council rejected Viken – and started the construction of three new counties at the meeting on Wednesday.

The county council in Viken decided on Wednesday afternoon with 49 votes from the Labor Party, the Socialist People’s Party, the Socialist People’s Party, the Red Party and the Green Party – to close down the large county of Viken in favor of restoring the three counties Akershus, Østfold and Buskerud.

38 members of the county council (H, MDG, KrF and PP) went in to preserve Viken.

Viken, which is Norway’s largest county with around 1.2 million inhabitants and 51 municipalities, will thus suffer a different fate than Innlandet, which was adopted preserved by the county council in the Inland.

The Labor Party in Viken, which in contrast to its party comrades in the Inland, will split up the large countyemphasized the importance of bringing the around 12,000 employees in the large county to the division.

– We are dependent on getting the employees to build three new county municipalities. The county council in Viken will be the construction site for the three new counties, said county council leader Siv Henriette Jacobsen (Labor Party) before she quoted the rock band Dum Dum Boys about their approach to dividing Viken:

– I do not look back. That’s not where we’re going.

Conservative veteran Tore Opdahl Hansen sees no need to dissolve Viken. He also marvels at those who use stronger identity to the three new-old counties as a motive for wrecking Viken.

– The fact that I now live in Viken and not in Buskerud, affects my identity to a very small degree. It is heritage and the environment that create identity, not the county municipality, said Opdahl Hansen in Viken county council. For the record: He belongs in Drammen even though he participates in the historic Viken County Council at Gardermoen on Wednesday and Thursday.

Liv Gustavsen from Frp believes that the closure of Viken can be a first step in closing down the county municipality as the administrative level. Therefore, she prefers smaller county units to a large county, she said in the debate.

Longing for closeness

SP politician Magnus Weggesrud had a different approach. He believes smaller county units lead to more closeness and trust between people.

– The Center Party has always been against Viken, said Weggesrud from Øvre Eiker, who is probably one of Viken County Council’s most ardent supporters of the restoration of Akershus, Østfold and not least Buskerud.

At the last national meeting in Sp he performed a self-composed stev in pure joy over the party’s policy to close down Viken and restore Buskerud.

Kjell Erland Grønbech (KrF) is co-building with Weggesrud, but completely disagrees with the need for division of Viken.

– The bay has had a completely different weight than the three old counties would have had alone, Grønbech said, referring to both roads and upper secondary schools. He also called for an evaluation of Viken, who has lived through two special years of pandemic.

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