This is the new government’s platform

October 20, 2021

Free school meals, an increase in the CO2 taxes on the agenda

Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB
Labor Party leader Jonas Gahr Støre and Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum presented the new government’s platform at the Hurdalsjøen Hotel in Akershus in Viken County on Oct. 13.

NTB

After long negotiations, Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor Party) and Trygve Salgsvold Vedum (Center Party, Sp), party leaders of the new Norwegian government, presented the policies they have agreed on at a press conference outside of the Hurdalsjøen Hotel in Akershus in Viken County on Oct. 13

These are some of the key points in the 80-page document they have called “The Hurdal Platform”:

* Troms and Finnmark will be dissolved, and the parties also allow for the dissolution of Viken.

* Norwegian emissions will be cut by 55% by 2030 compared with 1990, and the CO2 tax will be increased up to NOK 2,000 in 2030.

* The overall level of taxes and duties on people’s income must be kept unchanged. The electricity and fuel tax must be reduced.

* Membership in the EEA and NATO is permanent.

* The requirement that students must have at least a grade of 4 in mathematics in order to enter teacher education must be removed.

Støre said that the Labor Party has had all 40 points in the 100-day plan they presented before the election in the government platform fulfilled.

“This is a platform we in the Labor Party are very satisfied with. The Storting delegation warmly supported it, and it delivers on our key issues: work, welfare, and climate,” he said. “We have not achieved this by defeating the Center Party; on the contrary, we have agreed on most things in these points,” he added.

Earlier in the day on Oct. 13, the government platform was approved by the parliamentary groups of the two respective parties.

“We have worked as a team to find the best solutions, and I am very satisfied. Now we have a government that does not overwhelm but listens to and sees people and that is for the development all of Norway,” said Vedum.

Translated by Lori Ann Reinhall

This article originally appeared in the Oct. 22, 2021, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.