Lillestrøm, Lørenskog and Ullesaker spent a combined NOK 28.7 million on interpreting services in 2025, an increase of 212 per cent since 2019. There is no time limit on entitlement to free interpreting services. If one cannot or does not want to learn Norwegian, the public purse pays when one goes to court, to hospital or seeks assistance from Nav. As long as no requirements are imposed, the bills will continue to grow.
They have not even dared to approach the question of whether refugees from Iraq and Syria should return to their home countries. That, after all, was the condition for temporary protection. In the United States, Trump intends to revoke it for Haitians, amid furious protests from the Democrats.
The Democrats want illegal immigrants to be given the right to vote. The question must be asked whether that is also the plan in Western Europe. The authorities are importing voting cattle.
Three municipalities in Romerike – Lillestrøm, Lørenskog and Ullensaker – spent a combined NOK 28.7 million on interpreting services last year. The Progress Party now wants to impose stricter language requirements.
Interpreting expenditure in Lillestrøm has increased by 212 per cent since 2019. Lillestrøm commissioned more than 13,000 interpreting assignments in 2025, costing the municipality NOK 17.4 million, Romerikes Blad reports.
Interpreting into Arabic cost NOK five million, while Russian and Ukrainian cost nearly NOK two million and NOK 1.6 million respectively.
In Lørenskog and Ullensaker, expenditure amounted to NOK 5.3 million and NOK six million respectively.
– There are quite a few people who arrived several years ago and who, strictly speaking, ought by now to be able to manage without an interpreter. We see parents who do not learn the language, Ronny Røste of the Lillestrøm branch of the Progress Party told the newspaper.
The party has proposed that people who have lived in Norway for more than three years should themselves pay for any interpreting services they require. The current Interpreting Act contains no such limit.
Chief Municipal Executive Bjørn Gudbjørgsrud points to stricter requirements following the entry into force of the Interpreting Act in 2022, as well as the fact that the municipality has settled more refugees.
– Refugees from Arabic-speaking countries such as Syria and Iraq generally have a poor educational background and limited language skills beyond their mother tongue, Gudbjørgsrud says.
(©NTB)