The Labor Party and the Center Party agree to form a government – E24

– The first thing we can state is that the Labor Party and the Center Party agree that we can form a government.

This is how Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre opened the press conference in Hurdal on Friday afternoon, where he and Vedum announced without warning that they have agreed to form a government.

– We are ready to form a government on Thursday next week, he continues.

He adds that they have gotten through all the main questions, but that there is still some work to be done through the weekend.

The new government will be a minority government that does not have a majority in the Storting. This means that they will need the support of another party to get through their policy.

The Labor Party and the Socialist People’s Party were initially in probation with SV, which withdrew after they did not get a breakthrough for their most important issues.

Presents new policy on Wednesday

Støre made it clear during the press conference that the Labor Party and the Socialist People’s Party will present the new government’s policy on Wednesday, which is the day after Erna Solberg presents the state budget.

Solberg has also announced that she will announce the government’s resignation shortly thereafter.

– We have a program to take Norway forward. We have taken each other by the hand, says Støre, who emphasizes that he is confident that they have followed the mandates we received in the negotiations.

– You have talked a lot about honest disagreement. How has this been expressed in the negotiations?

– I would say that the last two or three days it is Trygve and I who have gone through this with the help of good employees. In some areas we have slightly different angles. There we must test each other if there is a willingness to share solutions. It has been one of the most exciting. We find each other in areas where we look at things a little differently, and I would say the result is almost better than where we come from, Støre answers.

Sp leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum also thinks the negotiations have developed well.

– It is very satisfying that we have landed in a very good way. It is almost an even better tone than when we started, he adds.

The SP leader emphasizes that he wants a good and dignified transition, and that we must call for “the good democracy we have”.

– We have worked our way through things and thought: How can we develop all parts of the country, have services close to people, reduce the differences, use natural resources to create jobs and how the mix of SP and Labor can be a good platform for how Norway should governed for the next four years.

Vedum will not answer specific questions about what the government will look like or what will happen to the large county of Viken or the EEA agreement.

SV awaits

VG has been in contact with SV, which will not comment on the new government until they see the content of the government platform.

– We are waiting to give our assessment before we see what basis they want to form a government on, whether the platform is good enough for justice and the environment, says SV deputy leader Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes.

Tajik: – I believe in this

On the way out of the hotel, Labor deputy leader Hadia Tajik tells VG that it has been intense days.

– But it has been good. I have great faith in this. I have become acquainted with the Center Party in a slightly different way, and it has been nice and inspiring to negotiate politics and a new political direction for Norway.

Nor will the Tajik answer concretely to political questions.

– The details will come when the platform is presented.

Shortly before Støre and Vedum met the press, the police bomb squad was in place at Hurdalssjøen hotel, where they checked out a package with an unknown sender that had been sent to the hotel.

The bomb squad has now left the hotel.

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