New central bank governor – Party book review

The Storting’s control committee has asked 21 questions about the process that ended with Stoltenberg, as expected, being appointed central bank governor. The questions are not about whether Stoltenberg is qualified for the job, or whether he was the best candidate. Apart from the fact that they are, of course, about just that, but the Storting has no formal involvement in interfering in who the government wants as central bank governor. Therefore, the Control Committee apparently questions the formalities. Here are some of them:

Who encouraged Stoltenberg to apply and who recorded his name? What was the role of the Prime Minister? Why was the announcement text changed? How is the fact that Stoltenberg is a former party leader and prime minister assessed against the intention of the Central Bank Act and demands for independence? And what is the reason why independence is not affected? How does Støre envisage that the work he leads must be specifically adapted to ensure Norges Bank’s independence?

As you can see, the Control Committee does not readily assume that Stoltenberg was any job seeker who happened to be perfect for the job.

There are two main tracks in the interrogation; one is whether the process has gone smoothly without outside interference, and the other is about Norges Bank’s independence. It is unlikely to end in a full hearing, we must believe the opposition, and that probably means that it reckons that both Jonas Gahr Støre and Trygve Slagsvold Vedum have satisfactory answers. Vedum has assured that this was a thorough process according to the rules; it also has Støre who has had nothing to do with the process and therefore must be considered a skilled observer.

It is nevertheless necessary that the questions be asked after weeks of political storms, heated debate and speculation. In principle, it should be an advantage for both the Labor Party and Stoltenberg to be able to “cleanse themselves” after accusations of camaraderie and party appointments. Get everything on the table, in the light. We have nothing to hide, as it is said so bravely.

Everyone has, of course something to hide. Someone has guaranteed talked together who perhaps should not have talked together, it has already been revealed. At the press conference on the occasion of the appointment, Jens Stoltenberg, for the record, added Hadia Tajik’s name to the list of people he had talked to about the job. It happened unsolicited, and many probably wondered why he in the whole world involved another in the Labor leadership without being asked about it. I do not know why, but I suppose Stoltenberg knew it would still be known.

Therefore, the answers to the specific questions are not at all a plank run for Vedum and Støre. In the press, politicians can get away with not telling the truth, but not in the control committee. The answers must be embarrassingly correct and take into account that there are more than the control committee who are still digging. Even topics of conversation in small confidential dinner parties tend to leak out if anyone is interested. A secret is something you tell yourself in a closed room, and even then you can not trust that you do not chatter in a thoughtless moment.

The Ministry of Finance is good at keeping secrets. The faceless bureaucrats who both encouraged Stoltenberg to apply, and who nominated him for the job, are probably not thrilled by the attention. Questioning can boil down to the fact that someone there has talked together and was a little overzealous at the thought of getting Stoltenberg himself back on the team, a man who formally embodies the ministry’s soul. They like to govern transient governments, but not to be looked at in the cards when they play bridge together.

It is more challenging to answer the control committee than comments on social media. The committee can hardly be bound by the fact that Erna Solberg appointed a fisheries director, who has been the trump card for party rabbits. The Control Committee knows the difference between a fisheries director and a central bank governor; it also knows that the central bank law has been changed since Gunnar Jahn’s time. And it knows that Norges Bank has an interest rate committee that will make it impossible for Stoltenberg to set the interest rate alone.

The Control Committee is at all a little more unpleasant than a dinner party appointing central bank governors over the appetizer of old habit. It may even be that Vedum does not escape assuring the committee that it is in its full right to ask questions.

–