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Christoffer Conrad Eriksen
Professor, Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, UiO
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Nils Gunnar Skretting
PhD Candidate, Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, UiO
Transport and Communications Minister Knut Arild Hareide (KrF) has received several questions about the fourth EU rail package. The authors of the post believe that you have answered incorrectly and misleadingly. Photo: Tore Meek / NTB
The Minister of Transport and Communications was asked if the railway package would involve the transfer of authority directly to the EU Commission. The response was surprising.
Debate
This is a discussion post. Opinions in the text are the responsibility of the writer.
The committee that investigated the social security scandal found deficiencies in the government’s reporting on issues of EEA law to the Storting. It was not “tradition” to describe the importance of EEA legislation in proposals to the Storting. Unfortunately, it seems that the tradition of not providing information on EEA legal obligations is still alive.
The latest addition is the discussion by Minister of Transport and Communications Knut Arild Hareides (KrF) on the fourth EU rail package on the question of whether this should be included in the EEA agreement. The Storting’s Transport and Communications Committee has put several questions to the Minister of Transport, including whether the rail package will involve the transfer of authority directly to the EU Commission.
Duty to provide information
The question is of fundamental importance. Both because it is about who should have the authority to set requirements for Norwegian railways. But also because the transfer of authority directly to the EU Commission contributes to undermining the EEA agreement system which ensures that Norway only transfers authority to the EFTA bodies, of which we are members, and not to the EU bodies. EU.
Despite the fundamental importance of the question, the requirements of the Minister’s duty to provide information have not been taken seriously. The second sentence of article 82 of the Constitution states that “No member of the Government shall submit incorrect or misleading information to the Storting or its bodies.”
Christoffer Conrad Eriksen, Professor, Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo and Nils Gunnar Skretting, PhD candidate, Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo
Responded again with other content
On 10 September this year, the Transport and Communications Committee asked the following question: “To what extent does the fourth EU railway package also involve a transfer of authority to the EU Commission, in addition to a transfer of authority? the ERA and the Court of Justice of the European Union? ” (ERA is an abbreviation for EU Railway Agency).
In the response given on September 21, the Minister wrote that “there is no transfer of authority to the Commission” and “Therefore, the Ministry has not proposed in the proposal that the authority be transferred to the Commission.”
Referring to parts of the case that the government had submitted to the Storting, the committee asked the question again on 23 September: “Does the minister still think that the fourth railway package does not imply a transfer of authority to the EU Commission?”
The Minister responded on October 5, but now with a different content. He referred to the cases described in more detail in the case and admitted that there are “in these hypothetical cases elements of transfer of authority”, and that it is “possible to consider this as a form of transfer of legislative authority”.
Wrong and misleading
Hareide’s response is surprising. The first answer was incorrect because the incorporation of the fourth EU railway package into the EEA agreement implies that the EU Commission has the power to determine certain requirements with effect for Norwegian railways.
The second answer can be perceived misleading because there is nothing hypothetical about the transfer of authority. Either authority is transferred or we retain it. Whether there are situations where the EU body wants to use the authority is another matter. There is therefore reason to remember that the Constitution’s prohibition on submitting incorrect or misleading information to the Storting or its bodies also applies in EEA matters.
