On the way into the Christmas holidays, Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol was interviewed by Adresseavisen at Værnes Airport outside Trondheim.
Kjerkol has been one of the most high-profile new ministers who took over in October, while she has been at the forefront of the Støre government’s corona handling. She has also had to endure tough questions and criticism from the opposition.
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Do not understand
On precisely questions from the Storting, a sigh of relief came from the Minister of Health.
– The Storting has an important function also in crisis, but that they need to ask two questions a week when we are most busy, I do not fully understand, I have to be honest and say, Kjerkol told Adresseavisen.
Avisa makes a point of saying that with laughter in her voice.
Trønder colleague and Storting politician Sivert Bjørnstad (Frp) nevertheless reacts strongly to the statement.
– It is a hopeless statement. One of the Storting’s most important tasks is to control the government. One of the best tools is the written questions. It is also important for the Storting’s work, because the ministries have an investigative capacity that the Storting is not close to.
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In the following Twitter thread, Bjørnstad simply states:
“I do not care what ministers, or others, think. But this can simply not be said. “
– Paradox
Bjørnstad still hopes Kjerkol was just unlucky with the word choice.
– My first thought is that it is not always wise to say out loud what you are thinking inside yourself.
Norwegian minister in a minority government is tired of the Storting after 6 weeks in the chair. Nice if she can notify us, who will control the government and make laws and stuff, when she has the time, energy and surplus to answer our questions????????♂️ @adresseavisen pic.twitter.com/5PEm255cD0
– Sivert Bjørnstad (@sbjoernstad) December 26, 2021
–
– I understand that it can be tiring and difficult to get critical questions, but it is now the case that the opposition must have some tools, Bjørnstad continues.
In the article in Adresseavisen, Kjerkol also says that the mood is different now.
– There was a very broad support when they got the pandemic in their lap. Now the opposition is more critical, and we just have to reckon with that, says the Minister of Health to the newspaper.
GETS CRITICISM: FRP’s Sivert Bjørnstad thinks Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol’s (Labor Party) statement about questions from the Storting is hopeless. Photo: Lars Eivind Bones / Dagbladet
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Before she became Minister of Health and Care Services, Kjerkol himself sat in the Storting for eight years, the last four years as chair of the health committee. Bjørnstad finds it striking that the comment comes from someone who himself has asked many critical questions from the Storting.
– It is a paradox that Kjerkol asked 25 questions to the then Minister of Health Bent Høie only in 2021. As is well known, it was also a fairly busy period for the Ministry of Health.
A walkthrough Aftenposten has made shows that the Labor Party asked between four and five questions a week in the last year Conservative Bent Høie was Minister of Health.
– It’s a little difficult to understand if it was said with a twinkle in the eye, but it does not seem that way. If it is an expression of something she actually means, then it is untimely and a surprising message, says the Conservative Party’s health policy spokesperson, Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen, to the newspaper.
Horror numbers
Government arrogance
– I understand if it seems to people that we have got a minister with government arrogance after only six weeks with the Støre government, Bjørnstad says.
– Is this an expression of government arrogance?
– It is obvious that it appears as it is.
In the Twitter message, Bjørnstad writes, with what must be interpreted as sarcasm: “Nice if she can notify us, who will control the government and make laws and such, when she has the time, energy and surplus to answer our questions.”
The FRP politician believes that the statement raises fundamental questions about the distribution of power and the way in which Norwegian democracy is directed.
– It seems that she thinks that the Storting is something here that lays down the job of the government. But that is what we are going to do – even in the middle of a pandemic. The government should be happy that we have a distribution of power and a balance of power. It is in the interest of democracy, he says.
