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OSLOBENKEN: Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre wants a separate crisis package for the nightlife industry in the capital to survive. Photographed here during the Storting Question Time on Wednesday. Photo: Tore Kristiansen
Jonas Gahr Støre believes that the government is not doing enough to save the restaurant and nightlife industry in the capital and is calling for an additional crisis package to prevent known and loved places from having to close their doors forever.
The Labor Party leader says he fully agrees with Oslo City Councilor Raymond Johansen (Labor Party), who on Thursday made an “emergency call from Oslo City Hall” regarding the extension of the social lockdown until December 14.
– Acute crisis
– It is absolutely necessary to defend companies that are now in acute crisis. It takes many weeks for compensation schemes to start working, it doesn’t happen until well into the new year and these are companies that are now empty of liquidity. I fully agree with Raymond Johansen that additional measures are needed, Støre tells VG.
See VG’s crown special here.
The city council leader wants a separate crisis package for Oslo, especially targeting nightlife and tourism and areas with the highest unemployment.
– Municipalities have been given a great responsibility to reduce infection, and they have introduced the necessary measures that have led companies to close. Not because they did a bad job, but because they are required to quit. It’s part of the volunteer work and it’s part of our volunteer work to stand up for them, Støre believes.
He fears that many jobs will disappear now that the entire Christmas season, which accounts for a large part of the industry’s revenue, is expiring.
– We see that well-known and loved emitters in Oslo, which have been built by hard-working people over time, are in danger of shutting down permanently.
– Vacancy directly
Støre points out that Oslo, like many other European capitals, has the highest infection rates.
– Oslo has the most intrusive measures and unemployment figures are increasing. Unemployment in Oslo is now higher than in Stavanger during the oil crisis, Støre says.
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Støre believes that the Minister of Local Government and Modernization, Nikolai Astrup, who is himself from Oslo, is failing the capital. Astrup has suggested that reducing the municipal property tax on business premises can help make things easier for businesses.
– Here he shows total insensitivity towards one of the most important industries in the city. His answer is predictable: lower taxes. But reducing the property tax will not save any restaurant or pub in Oslo, Støre believes.
To VG, Astrup explains that she shares concern for the many companies that are now in a very demanding situation due to the pandemic.
– For this reason, the government has presented a series of packages of measures for the business community. So far this year, we have aligned with up to 66 billion kroner for businesses, and will continue to align in 2021. We will offset up to 80 percent of fixed expenses starting September 1 this year, he writes in a email sent through your political advisor.
– There are no special rules for Oslo
Astrup believes that the government is responsible for helping the business community across the country.
– Therefore, the package of measures and support schemes applies to companies located both inside and outside the capital, and there are no specific rules for companies located in Oslo. If you have experienced major rotational failure as a result of the crown, you should get help regardless of where the business is located, he writes.
Astrup believes that more than the state can contribute positively.
– I never thought that property tax is the reason why companies in Oslo are struggling now, but I encouraged the Oslo municipality to consider if there is anything they can do beyond what they already do, and suggested that, for example, reducing property tax on business premises can make a contribution. ? But I never said or meant that it is this measure that will save companies struggling in Oslo, Astrup writes.
Støre won’t quantify how big a potential package of measures should be for the capital.
– But is this money taken out of your pension and that of my children?
– Our assessment is that if we repress these companies, unemployment will increase and become permanent, and this will affect our children and grandchildren. Many young people also work in this industry, says Støre.
