Some proposals reveal political fault lines that render the concept of a “bourgeois alternative” obsolete. On Thursday, the Storting will vote on a proposal from Sylvi Listhaug and Erlend Wiborg of the Progress Party (FrP) concerning the expulsion of criminal foreigners. Denmark took the lead and adopted such a law in January. FrP believes Norway should follow suit.
But a majority consisting of the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet), Høyre, the Centre Party (Senterpartiet), the Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti), Rødt, and the Green Party (Miljøpartiet De Grønne) votes against.
Thus, the Progress Party is left standing alone.
When a proposal falls, it receives little attention. It sinks like a stone. Yet this is in fact an issue voters care about, and voters ought to hear who it is that protects criminals rather than citizens, for that is what the proposal is about.
The Committee’s recommendation is put forward by the members of the Committee from the Labour Party, Høyre, the Socialist Left Party, the Centre Party, Rødt, and the Green Party.
The Committee otherwise has no comments, refers to the document and recommends that the Storting adopt the following
decision:Document 8:81 S (2025–2026) – Private member’s bill from Members of the Storting Sylvi Listhaug and Erlend Wiborg concerning an expulsion reform for criminal immigrants – is not adopted.
What was so controversial that the immigration parties gathered into a bloc? The proposal from Sylvi Listhaug and Erlend Wiborg.
The Storting asks the Government to take the initiative for cooperation with Denmark on an expulsion reform ensuring that immigrants who commit serious crime in Norway shall be expelled, regardless of their connection to the country, including asylum seekers and refugees. If individuals cannot be returned to their country of origin, they shall nevertheless be deported to a safe third country with which Norway enters into an agreement. The Government is requested to return to the Storting with the necessary legislative amendments in the spring session of 2026, so that the Storting can consider and adopt the matter before the summer of 2026.
The other parties argue that Norwegian law already permits expulsion, including to third countries. But then comes this:
Even if a possible future agreement between Norway and other Schengen countries on the one hand, and a safe third country on the other, were to open for the transfer of convicted criminals, and thus could make questions of protection and proportionality considerably simpler in a number of cases, one would not be able to dispense with conditions and assessments. These are based on rules that cannot readily be set aside through legislation.
In practice, this means that the human rights of a criminal foreigner carry greater weight than the consideration of the security of society. The same parties that are so concerned with total preparedness and security are not equally concerned with the security of citizens.
But this is something they will never say explicitly. They hide behind concepts such as “rules”.
Høyre and the Centre Party describe, in a flood of words, that they support the intention of FrP, but:
The Committee’s members from Høyre and the Centre Party are concerned about the proposal’s level of legal precision and feasibility. A regulatory framework that completely precludes any individual assessment in cases of expulsion risks conflicting with Norway’s international legal obligations and may be set aside by the courts. These members believe that a reform intended to function in practice must be designed within the framework set by human rights obligations. Such a framework should not limit the level of ambition, but ensure that the adopted rules can actually be enforced and produce the intended effects.
Over the years, a supranational system has developed in which jurists have expanded the power and authority of the courts, using the cause of migrants as a lever. Politicians have allowed this to happen, and now Høyre and the Centre Party show that they submit to the system.
It is not a major step that FrP seeks either. But it was a small attempt to change course, so that perhaps a few more criminals would be expelled. Such a law would also have made visible who it is that places the rights of criminals above the societies to which they come.
But even that is something Høyre and the Centre Party cannot accept. They vote with the red parties that defend migrants as a matter of principle.