– Now we have put the finishing touches and we will have peace. Now the municipalities will solve their tasks and do the job they have been assigned, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at Politisk Kvarter today.
The government promised the inhabitants of Songdalen and Søgne a referendum on whether they would still be part of the large municipality of Kristiansand or not, contrary to the decision in the municipality itself.
Støre admits that the aftermath of the municipal reform has been demanding for the government.
– Things like this are rent. It strikes me when I see good party colleagues being disappointed, says Støre.
Do not listen to Forsand
Sp leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum has emphasized how important it is to listen to the inhabitants of the two former municipalities in Sørlandet.
A little further west, in Rogaland, we also have similar citizens’ initiatives as those in Søgne and Songdalen.
Here, the former Forsand municipality would be part of Strand municipality, and not Sandnes as they are part of today. The state administrator in Rogaland, Bent Høie, approved of the change.
Here, the government chose not to listen to the citizens’ initiative.
– If we ask people for advice, the advice should be followed. What has become of the party that listens to people and takes them seriously, said group leader for the Center Party in Forsand, Alf Heggheim.
– Why does the government want to listen to people in Søgne and not to people in Forsand?
– These are two quite different cases. All of these cases have different origins. Here it would not be to change the borders back, but to make a new demarcation, says Støre.
– Are they done listening to people who want changes in municipal boundaries?
– Yes, now we will have peace. We are big in the face of an uncertain time and then we have to put an end to it, says Støre.
Jonas Gahr Støre thinks the municipal affairs in Rogaland and in Agder are different. Here with State Secretary Siri Hytten.
Photo: Mathias Moene Rød / NRK
–
Was not a horse trade
The decision on a referendum in the former municipalities in Sørlandet has been tough for the local Labor politicians in Kristiansand.
In Rogaland, it was Labor mayor Stanley Wirak who emerged victorious from the municipal battle.
Støre rejects that there should be a secret agreement between the governing party to defy local democracy and support a referendum in these two municipalities, in violation of the Hurdal platform.
– There are many such theories. If you sit in a government, there is a whole that must go up, he says.
– Was it the Labor Party or the Center Party that got to say about Forsand?
– The Minister of Local Government has delivered his decision. We agree on this, says Støre.
–
