The extensive and persistent media coverage and the forthcoming consideration in the Storting’s Control and Constitution Committee (Kontroll- og konstitusjonskomiteen) of the Norwegian authorities’ relationship to the scandals revealed by the Epstein archive raise important questions that do not emerge in the media’s coverage of the case. What do the revelations tell us about the constitutional seriousness of our state administration, and in particular of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Utenriksdepartementet)? Has this ministry, with its more than 1,500 employees, whose task should be to safeguard the interests of the Kingdom of Norway in relation to foreign countries, been transformed into a political shopping centre where private actors have had access to exploit the ministry’s resources, status and reputation in order to advance their own private business interests, to the detriment of the kingdom and its international standing?
The answer unfortunately appears to have to be a clear yes. Yet we should not allow ourselves to be surprised if the forthcoming investigation should reveal far more than what has so far been made known, for what is inexorably being disclosed at present seems only to amount to a few fragments of a much larger problem. The worst thing that can now happen is that the work of internal firefighting and damage limitation should succeed. A great deal is at stake, and a rescue operation for the government’s and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ name and reputation has high priority. What in English is called the blame game is now in full swing.
What cannot be saved are the façades of former ministers and diplomats such as Jagland, Brende, Rød-Larsen and Juul. But will it be possible to draw the line there, or will the Storting, by the sheer weight of the matter and the volume of information, be compelled to tear open yet more layers of folders and archives that still conceal malpractice, fraud and corruption whose extent even the tabloids have not yet managed to imagine? The drops of insight we have so far received into “gross corruption” and mismanagement may prove to be trifles compared with all that has long taken place and quietly passed “under the radar”.
What will the Storting and the state-financed media then do? Will they ever become capable of recognising and admitting that the policies they agitated for and went to the electorate on were a foretold catastrophe – a failure they ought to have foreseen because information about it was already on their desks? Or was the expectation of funding that would relieve them of every concern enough to give them double vision? Not since the days of the Soviet Union have we seen a state apparatus in symbiosis with a more servile media apparatus.
How did it come about in the first place that this Epstein came into contact with and gained such direct access not only to the government offices in Oslo, but even to the Royal Household? Was it Jagland and Crown Princess Mette-Marit who happened to google him and thought he would be a suitable partner for cooperation? No. That task was carried out by the highest-paid officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on advice and guidance from the diplomatic service. What role Rød-Larsen and his ambassador wife played in this connection they should explain themselves. But none of them possessed the status and position required to introduce Epstein into the international networks of the Royal Family and the government. Such tasks require the participation of the very highest levels of the civil service and the acceptance of the minister. They also require the participation of the Royal Court administration.
If the Storting’s investigation of the scandal and its consequences is to have any meaning at all beyond removing this abscess from the focus of the media, it is here that the investigation should concentrate. Who was it that described Epstein to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ highest political and administrative leadership and to the Royal Household as a contact with whom the Norwegian authorities and the Royal Household should establish closer ties and utilise as a foreign-policy resource person for Norway?
Who was it in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ hierarchy of officials who contacted, informed and persuaded the Court in this matter? For it was not the Crown Princess herself who happened to google Epstein and thought it was a good idea to include him in the royal circle of acquaintances. These are the kinds of questions the investigation in the Control and Constitution Committee must ask and obtain exhaustive and truthful answers to, so that the responsibility for having created the scandal may be placed where it actually belongs. No one must be spared here – not even the Prime Minister, who is the head of the administration. To mislead the Royal Household is not a matter to be taken lightly. Ultimately it concerns the reputation and security of the realm, and the very existence of the trust-based society.
We note that the Prime Minister in the media “repeats the call for the Royal Household to show openness about Epstein connections”. The media speculate about what the reason might be that he receives no answer from the Royal Household. Could the reason simply be that the Royal Household strictly observes a loyalty to the Norwegian authorities that forbids them from making public who it was that misled the Crown Princess? Does the Prime Minister not understand that it is he himself and his civil service who bear responsibility for the mistakes that the media accuse the Crown Princess of having committed – accusations which he now, with his statements, makes his own?
We hear much at present about the trust-based society that suffers damage when its leadership fails and lapses into corruption. It remains for us to see whether among our elected representatives there still exists grounds to hope that some of this trust can be restored. But that will place strict demands on the work they are to perform in the Storting’s Control and Constitution Committee. We assume that they too, unlike the Prime Minister, will not succumb to the temptation to sacrifice the Crown Princess and the Royal Household in order to rescue a corrupt civil service.