SV enters the budget negotiations with demands for more social assistance, more child benefit and greater climate cuts.
As expected, SV makes tough demands on the red-green government, to ensure the party is willing to vote for the budget proposal. SV’s votes in the Storting are decisive for getting the government’s budget in place.
In line with usual SV policy, demands are made for greater social benefits. SV has often been characterised as a party that is concerned with handing out money, but not quite so concerned with earning this money.
On Tuesday at 1pm, SV, Ap and Sp met at the Storting to start negotiations on the government’s proposal for a revised state budget.
SV’s fiscal policy spokesperson Kari Elisabeth Kaski says it is important for her party to give people more to root for.
NTB-Marie De Rosa reports on the situation on Tuesday.
For us, it is important to increase some of the benefits for those who can least afford it, such as social assistance, but also broad benefits such as child benefit, which are beneficial for many, says Kaski.
Here, not least, large groups of immigrants will be catered for, as it is often a question of large families with children with zero or very little earned income.
SV will also strengthen hospital finances and increase taxes for the very richest, says Kaski and SV leader Kirsti Bergstø in an interview with VG.
More taxes for the “rich” are familiar tones from SV, a policy that has contributed to so many wealthy Norwegians now choosing to leave the country and move to Switzerland.
Bigger climate cuts.
Climate is another tabloid issue for SV, and here too demands are made.
We must speed up the conversion to the green shift in order to succeed in the conversion away from the oil industry and over to green industries. But we also need to cut greenhouse gas emissions so that we reach the targets the Storting has adopted for 2030, says Kaski.
SV has previously flagged that they will demand that Equinor’s offshore wind project “Trollwind” be realised in the budget negotiations with Ap and Sp. On Monday, it became known that Equinor is postponing the project indefinitely. See report below.
Kaski regrets that. However, she will not answer whether the Trollvind project will still be a topic in the negotiations.
It is an enormous pity. It should have been carried out, says Kaski.
Labor will hold back on spending
AP’s fiscal policy spokesperson Eigil Knutsen believes in a good budget settlement, but emphasises that it is important for his party to hold back on spending. He points out that the billions are already flowing out in extraordinarily tight flows from the treasury.
It has been necessary to compensate hospitals, care for the elderly, police and defence due to the price increase to avoid major cuts. Therefore, there has been room for few political initiatives from the government. That will also be our approach to this, says Knutsen before the meeting.
He points out that the government has price-adjusted all benefits in its proposed revised budget, in addition that a good social security settlement has been announced this year.
The Finance Committee at the Storting has until 9 June to submit its recommendation, before the budget is to be adopted in the Storting on 16 June
The money that SV generously distributes to its favourite purposes is largely created by Norway’s oil and gas industry, an industry that SV is in favour of phasing out.
The state’s oil revenues are estimated to be approx. NOK 1,015 billion in 2023. It is so far unclear where SV envisages bringing in the corresponding amount, to finance the many expensive issues and purposes the party would like to give more to in the future.
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