Mette Fossum of the Consumer Council criticises the government for a lack of contingency plans and calls for more emergency shops.
“It is a problem that we don’t know where to go if we don’t have an emergency stockpile or if our home supplies run out,” she tells Nationen.
The Consumer Council believes the government is breaching its own plan set out in the Consumer Agenda 2030. This is because no funds have been allocated for this purpose in the national budget.
In particular, the Consumer Council believes there should be a focus on so-called emergency shops.
– The more people who know where to turn in a crisis, the more people will be able to look after themselves. This gives the authorities a better opportunity to help those who need it most, writes Fossum in a press release.
Norgesgruppen plans to open between 150 and 200 new shops of this kind across the country, and had hoped for a little more interest from the government.
– “What is important when setting up emergency shops is having good solutions for emergency power supply. That is why, amongst other things, diesel and generators are important for the operation of emergency shops,” says Bård Gultvedt, Director of Business Policy and Government Relations at Norgesgruppen.
Gultvedt concludes by saying that a more proactive government would have been helpful, but that they will establish their planned emergency shops regardless because they view this as an important social responsibility.
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