The government says there will be more quota refugees next year – NRK Norway – Summary of news from different parts of the country

The question of how many quota refugees we will receive next year has been pointed out as one of the nuts of the negotiation in the discussions between the government and the FRP on the state budget for next year.

The Korona situation also complicates this discussion.

Fewer refugees

Because the pandemic affects most things. It has also led to fewer quota refugees arriving in Norway than the 3,000 that were decided for this year.

– Due to the corona pandemic, it is estimated that we will grant approx. 2000 migrant refugees in total in the current year, as long as infection control restrictions in our developing countries allow for planned remote interviews, Tonje Øyan, head of the migrant refugee department unit in the UDI, informs NRK.

Transferred refugees and quota refugees are two different words for the same thing: refugees with a real need for protection that Norway selects in cooperation with the UN and who are transferred to Norway. The government’s proposal is that we receive 3,000 of this type next year.

That really comes less this year It should be able to facilitate the discussion on the budget, expect several sources from the ruling Høgre party with whom NRK has spoken.

But the virus situation also means that it can appear more refugees next year. It will be hard to swallow for Frp.

Fall 2019: around 3000

We must go back a year, before the crown, to fully understand the debate on the refugee quota that is taking place between the ruling party and the FRP.

So it wasn’t necessarily joy and good humor either. But it was at least a clarified situation.

By the fall of 2019, the four parties Høgre, Frp, Venstre and KrF were together in government, and agreed that 3,000 quota refugees would come to Norway in 2020. They had finished discussing this in Granavollen in January 2019, and entered in the government platform that this speech should be continued. The FRP accepted this, and it was the then Finance Minister Siv Jensen himself who in the autumn of 2019 presented to the Storting that this year there would be 3,000 quota refugees.

Then came the virus

Covid-19 affects everything. Also the number of refugees from the quota. Traveling was difficult. Interviewing refugees in refugee camps was difficult for the Norwegian government. So there are less. Just look at this graph that the government presented in October.

The graph for 2020 has grown a bit. But the updated figures that the UDI confirms to the NRK thus show that a decision is expected on a place in Norway for only 2000 quota refugees this year. The least amount will probably have arrived in Norway before the New Year, but the important thing is how many people grant place in Norway in 2020. And that final sum will thus be 1000 people according to what the Storting decided last year.

Those who don’t come now can come next year

So what do these numbers mean? Does that mean it will join? less Refugee quota this year and next? Or does it just mean that there will be more next year?

The government thinks it should mean the latter. The prime minister has responded by writing to the Storting that the government is proposing that seats not filled this year be transferred to next year.

Second, the Justice Ministry presented a new budget document on Friday while negotiations were taking place at the Storting. There they again write that in line with the previous practice “He wants the government to move the unused places to 2021”.

Secretary of State Hilde Barstad is working on the case of Justice Minister Monica Mæland. She informs NRK that the estimate for 2021 is that there will be around 3,500.

– 3,500 is a very uncertain forecast, but the best forecast we have is the number of decisions made this year that will come next year and the number of decisions made next year that will come the same year. At the same time, of course, decisions will be made for quota refugees next year that won’t arrive physically until 2022.

KrF: Listen to the Prime Minister!

At KrF and Venstre, they take Erna’s answer to the Storting literally. Those who do not come this year, should will come next year!

Just listen to what KrF negotiator Tore Storehaug told NRK after one of the many negotiation meetings with Frp on Friday afternoon.

Liberal Party fiscal policy spokesperson Ola Elvestuen also refers to the “holistic budget” as his starting point. Therefore, it is proposed that next year 3,000 and that all unused places this year be transferred.

The dilemma: FRP must have collected numbers

But the dilemma is this: FRP, which left the government earlier this year, is the party that the government is trying to agree with. The party has repeatedly pointed out how important it is that fewer people come to the country. The demand is extremely strict: Zero quota of refugees!

And in their budget alternative, they point out how problematic it is that it is also planned to move refugees from this year’s quota to the 2021 quota.

When FRP leader Siv Jensen commented on the negotiation discussion to the media on Monday afternoon, he emphasized that there are various issues that are causing the negotiations to stop, but that FRP and KrF have starting points. very different on the issue of the refugee quota.

Hope in law

But people in the Conservative Party who are close to the negotiation process still have the hope associated with the fact that there actually seem to be fewer quota refugees than agreed.

The hope is that this will make it easier for KrF, Venstre and Frp to accept the number one budget decision.

Secretary of State Hilde Barstad from the Ministry of Justice points out in a written comment to NRK how uncertain the numbers of refugees with quotas actually are.

– Despite the international unrest and the corona pandemic, the government in the presentation to the state budget for 2021 follows up on the agreement in the declaration of Granavolden to receive 3,000 quota refugees per year. It is important to emphasize that there is great uncertainty associated with whether we will reach the goal.

Negotiations on the budget have now been raised to party leaders in the ruling party and Frp.