Bent Stiansen closes restaurants. Raymond Johansen proposes concrete measures to save Oslo’s nightlife. – E24

A full bar stop has been introduced in Oslo. Combined with the social closure, this leads to the absence of the guests. For this reason, many close their doors when the measures take effect at midnight.

Among them are Statholdergaarden and Statholderens Mat & Vinkjeller. 40 employees will be laid off for at least three weeks, confirms owner Bent Stiansen.

– We are sad and sad, he says.

Closed restaurants mean lost sales. Several companies are now in danger of going bankrupt. Therefore, Councilor Raymond Johansen of the municipality of Oslo calls for action from the government.

Last week, Johansen demanded help from the government to save Oslo’s nightlife. Now he asks for more measures in a letter to the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Iselin Nybø (V).

More serious than in March

For serveringsbransjen:

• Immediate support to avoid bankruptcy.
• Tax reduction.
• Point out that the plans will last until the pandemic ends.
• Compensation for lost sales. Same as the solution for the cultural sector.

If the last point is not relevant, Johansen asks for improvements. the compensation scheme:

• Compensation for wages for infection control personnel.
• Do not distinguish between companies that receive a government shutdown order and that do not.
• Do not claim salary subsidies in case of dismissals.
• Go back to the redundancy rules of the first phase of the pandemic.
• The “unavoidable fixed costs” should be expanded to include the depreciation of fixed assets.
• Covers parts of item costs.

The new measures in Oslo are more serious than in March, Johansen writes in the letter.

– We must kill a virus. But the measures we implement will also reduce jobs and businesses, Johansen tells Aftenposten / E24.

Finance Minister Jan Tore Sanner (H) and Trade and Industry Minister Iselin Nybø (V) announced on Monday that they will present new economic measures on Tuesday at 12 noon.

Johansen wants a scheme based on a 30 percent drop in billing. It must cover at least 80 percent of the fixed costs.

Additionally, Johansen requests exceptions in the Service and Alcohol Act. This will ensure that the new owner can continue or start without lengthy application processes.

– Very serious

The measures were announced on Friday. Aftenposten / E24 spoke to several desperate restaurant owners on Friday.

– The situation is very serious, said Even Hegbom.

He is the daily editor of Den Glade Gris in Oslo.

– Actually, we have been ordered to close. Without that word being used.

Lars Erik Underthun is the CEO of the Feinschmecker restaurant. He reacted strongly to the municipality’s measures.

– First we are asked to stay at home. Then comes the bar stop. It’s wrong and it’s Johansen’s coward. I should have said we should shut down, Underthun said.

– Pillar company frameworks

The measures will lead to layoffs, unemployment and the risk of bankruptcy, Johansen believes.

– They will affect Oslo’s core companies and workers already in the most insecure jobs in society, he says.

Johansen adds:

– Infection control measures and financial measures must go hand in hand. We will save lives and health, but also jobs. Until now, infection control measures have been much more comprehensive than economic and social measures. I said this to the Minister of Commerce and Industry at a meeting last week. And I say it again now in the letter to the Minister of Commerce and Industry. Now that infection control measures are tightening, economic measures need to be strengthened.