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The forcibly merged counties of Troms and Finnmark will turn one year on New Years. But already in the autumn, a new parliamentary majority can go to dissolve the county and leave Troms and Finnmark to continue living separately.
Both the Center Party and the Labor Party have promised.
But there is also an internal disagreement at Finnmark. As Dagbladet wrote this week, Vadsø has retained the county’s former municipal offices and functions, despite the merger.
But at Alta, people are more positive about the Troms merger. Alta is home to 20,000 of Finnmark’s 70,000 residents.
– I see what kind of challenges Finnmark would have had if we hadn’t merged with Troms, says Center Party Deputy Mayor Jan Martin Rishaug in Alta to NRK.
“Eternal power struggles and exhausting processes”
– Not convenient
Rishaug points out that Finnmark will lack both money and professionals if one were to divide the counties again.
– I belong to a party that is in reverse. I identify with that. But personally, I can say that I am not that comfortable with that, Rishaug tells NRK.
Dagbladet has tried to contact Rishaug on Wednesday afternoon without success. The local SP-top first expressed skepticism about the division of the counties in an open meeting on Friday and, according to NRK, was initially skeptical about the elaboration of its views.
Get an immediate downpour
The county leader of the Center Party in Finnmark, Geir Iversen, sits on the Storting’s business committee and takes Rishaug’s remarks with overwhelming calm.
– Rishaug is a lonely swallow at the Downtown Party. We are on rocky terrain in this case. I’ve never heard of such a movement before, but he’s sitting on the county council and there you see the misery of having little money. That may be what made him think a little badly, Iversen tells Dagbladet.
Iversen guarantees that the counties will be divided again, if the Center Party has something it should have said after this fall’s elections.
– I just spoke to Trygve (Slagsvold Vedum). It guarantees that five days after we take over we will fix it. Then travel to Vadsø, this will happen, says Iversen.
Massive majority
In recent days, Dagbladet has shed light on the regional uprising that is taking place in northern Norway after Troms and Finnmark were forcibly merged.
In Finnmark, a referendum was held in which 87% considered merging, but it took place from the New Year. So far, it has provided more leaders and bureaucrats, as Dagbladet has documented.
It is also not easy to merge our two northernmost counties. Today, Dagbladet reported a note to political leaders in Troms and Finnmark describing the county township as a dysfunctional workplace characterized by eternal power struggles between the two geographic parts of the central administration.
Towards local peaks
Dual functions
The new county will also continue with dual and personal roles in both Tromsø and Vadsø, pending a new parliamentary majority to dissolve them.
Of the four subject directors under senior management, two are in Vadsø and two are in Tromsø. In the opposite place of administration there is a local address.
– Yes, when Tromsø has the division director, it has a deputy commander in Vadsø and vice versa. When you have two places of administration, it is important that you be able to contact someone who has a power of attorney. There are 70-80 miles between each location, explained Bjørn Inge Mo, head of the county council to Dagbladet.
– But is it the same county municipality?
– Yes, but there are two administration locations.
Local Government Minister Nikolai Astrup (H) reacted on Dagbladet on how county politicians continue to run the new county with dual roles. He believes it goes beyond both the county’s residents and the business community.
– Troms and Finnmark residents and businesses deserve that the County Council take their role as a community advocate seriously and give it their undivided attention. They should do their job of developing the service offering and not waste time training Storting decisions. It only goes beyond the residents and the business community, Astrup said.
