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The leader of the Center Party, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, gets away a lot with his good laugh. But now is the time to get serious.
For almost eight years, the SP leader has complained about the government, explaining that everything that is wrong in Norway is due to centralization.
When Trygve Slagsvold Vedum describes Norway, he tells a fairy tale about a country that does not exist.
Now is the time to put it like it is: the Center Party leader misrepresents Norway and presents solutions that are bad for most Norwegians. In short, you want to move resources from where people live to where they moved.
But let’s look up and ask: Is it so bad in Norway?
The answer to that is no.
We are sitting on the green branch. Norway has zero external debt and NOK 11 billion in the Oil Fund. Norwegians have high purchasing power, low unemployment, and we have lower economic inequality than most countries in the world.
When Trygve Slagsvold Vedum describes Norway, he tells a fairy tale about a country that does not exist. This does not mean that we live in a perfect country, but it is strange that one in five voters falls in love with a message that speaks against our country.
And it’s almost unbelievable that people who live in bigger cities are considering voting for a party that will take money from where people live and where problems exist, and move them to places where people have moved from.
When the Center Party speaks of terrible centralization, it only means that people for decades have left municipalities with fewer than 4,000 inhabitants and have moved to municipalities with more than 40,000 inhabitants. What’s wrong with living in a city?
Since 1959, the number of farms in Norway has fallen from 200,000 to 40,000. During this period, the Center Party has been in seven different governments and has been in power for 22 years. About twice as many farms were closed during the last Red-Green government with the Center Party, than under Erna Solberg.
Shows? That agriculture is being rationalized (fewer farmers, larger areas) and that many choose to leave the countryside to pursue higher education and work in industries with greater value creation. What’s wrong with living in a city?
On the Center Party websites, there are quite empty slogans side by side: “Close to the people”, “all of Norway”, “Norwegian food”, “safety”, “no to the EU”, “Norwegian jobs “.
Or, as it is called in its recent state budget: – We want to develop all of Norway in which we are so happy.
Who doesn’t want that?
It is quite obvious that a government wants jobs in Norway, close to people across the country. Norwegian food is fine, but I like to have Italian wine and pasta, Spanish tapas, and Mexican tacos too.
Security is good and jobs in Norway are excellent. But I feel more secure for Norwegian jobs within the EEA agreement than outside. The vast majority of people who work in the fishing industry or in the export industry are likely to do the same.
The Center Party speaks of proximity to the people of the entire country. In my book, it also means that one should be concerned with the overwhelming majority of 4.2 million city dwellers, not just those who live in the countryside. A single Jan Bøhler from Groruddalen is not enough.
And there we get to the core:
- When the Center Party wants to remove the police specialists and restore the sheriff’s offices, it provides less security for most of us, who are exposed daily to cyber fraud attempts, cross-border drug crimes and are concerned about abuse. childish.
- When the Center Party wants more local hospitals, the party must explain how to avoid weak professional environments and incorrect treatments that have been revealed in several small hospitals because they do not have specialists.
- When the Center Party wants to retain courts across the country and reverse judicial reform, they neglect revelations that show that different courts are inexperienced and judge completely differently in equal cases. Are local courts more important than equality before the law?
Of course I paint here with a wide pen. What I mean is not that the Center Party has no arguments for its positions, but that, over time, it has escaped too cheaply from confronting the solutions it defends.
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum is a nice man, but the Center Party’s recipe for growth and prosperity in the districts is unconvincing, and it scarcely scares anyone in Silicon Valley when the Center Party’s recipe is’ … establish growth deals rural development, increase regional development funds and focus on decentralizing vocational education and training schools and vocational subjects ”. (Source: Proposed 2020 State Budget).
When the trend has been going on for many decades, with the Center Party in government, it is not credible to blame Erna Solberg for leaving the countryside and people going to the cities to get an education, get better jobs, and settle there. It is a worldwide trend. More and more people want to move to cities.
In addition, we all benefit from better public services more economically. So reforms, specialization and automation are needed, as is the case with private companies all the time. Throwing money at the problem is not a good solution, although it is tempting for politicians heading into an election year.
- When the Center Party wants to shift an additional NOK 4.6 billion to county and municipal bureaucracies, the money will be taken from one place and may, for example, mean less money for children living in persistent poverty in cities.
- When the party in its recent state budget proposal wants to eliminate the schemes that reward municipalities that join forces to save the bureaucracy, it is a contribution to keep city councils and councilors alive on every small promontory.
The Center Party has from the beginning opposed much-needed work to reduce the number of municipalities and counties. However, it has reduced the number of Norwegian counties and municipalities and contributed to having eight fewer counties and 68 fewer municipalities. In the long run, this means 68 fewer councilors, 68 fewer city councils, and 68 fewer municipal employees. The consequence of this is billions of crowns for better services for the inhabitants.
Municipal mergers and streamlining are absolutely necessary, because both municipalities and regions stand out. It seems almost out of control. Since 2015 alone, municipalities have gained 5,000 more employees and the sector now spends NOK 570 billion a year. Prime Minister Erna Solberg must take her share of responsibility for this public sector inflation. But the Center Party will push for more municipal employees across the country.
To finance all the proposals, the party must provide itself NOK 29 billion more from the Petroleum Fund in 2021 alone..
In their state budget proposal, the party says they will restrict labor immigration from the EEA. So we will have fewer Polish painters and carpenters (but probably no fewer seasonal workers for agriculture?). This is practically impossible as long as we have the EEA agreement, which, among other things, guarantees the free right to travel and work wherever you want in the EEA area. For Norwegian shipyards and Norwegian companies, such a proposal will be a fist in the middle.
In the proposed state budget, the Center Party will give NOK 3 billion to Norwegian airlines such as Norwegian. In practice, it will be a Christmas present from the Norwegian state for investors and creditors.
But it’s not the only Christmas gift the party will give away.
The Center Party also proposes to reduce the VAT on food from 15 to 12 percent, which will cost the Treasury 4.8 billion NOK in 2022. But does that mean cheaper food? The answer to that is no. The last time the state cut VAT on food, the grocery industry took the profit in its own pocket, naturally.
Why should they reduce the prices that consumers are used to paying, when they can take the VAT profit in their own pocket?
Read more about your money: I took the food crowns myself
If you don’t believe me, you can read this blog from the incoming secretary general of the Norwegian Farmers and Small Producers Association. As he writes, they base their prices on our purchasing power, which is high. – They sell it at the price that our purchasing power and our willingness to pay allow us. Anything else would be silly. This is what traders around the world do, writes in another comment on Nettavisen.
With the latest polls, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum rises as a possible prime minister in a minority government of the Labor Party and the Center Party. Then he can’t stand it with a good mood and a contagious laugh. The description of reality must be correct and the medicine must be correct.
Therefore, it is time to take a closer look at the politics of the Center Party. Like to spend 4.8 billion crowns of community money to reduce VAT on food, further enriching the food billionaires who own Rema, Coop and Kiwi.
P.S! What do you mean? Does the Center Party understand Norway and is its policy a contribution to improving Norway? Write your opinion in a reader letter!
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