Halle Jørn Hanssen*
Norway
The Norwegian Labour Party concluded recently its last congress before the coming elections in September this year with the adoption of a political programme that takes the party to the left in some important fields. The aim is to win the elections, be back in government and see its leader Jonas Gahr Støre become the next Norwegian Prime Minister.
Norway has a strong tradition for state owned natural resources or public control and regulation of the same, like waterfalls, fisheries, oil, forest and mountain plateaus, the Labour Party in its new programme strengthens its previous positions on these policies. Sales of the commons are out.
State owned industries
The values and principles on which these policies build, has through history served the interest of the Norwegian people well. Some 50 years ago, when oil was struck on the Norwegian continental shelf, whether to keep it as state property or leave it for sale to the big multinational oil companies, was a politically controversial issue. The Labour government at the time went for state ownership of the of oil and gas reserves struck at the present and for all new discoveries to come. It established and made STATOIL a leading national company in the exploitation of the same recourses. The government also decided to favour Norwegian industries when it came to the research, development and construction of the technologically very advanced installations on the shelfs.
In addition, when profits and income from the oil and gas industries surged in the 1990ies, the Labour government with the support of the political parties in Parliament, decided to establish what was then called the state oil fund into which the state income from the oil industries is transferred.
Today the Norwegian State Oil Fund, also named the State Pension Fund, stands at approximately 8 trillion NOK or almost 800 billion EURO with investments in about 9000 companies in 77 countries. It is now one of the very biggest investments funds globally. The dividends from the investment of the fund is now bigger than income from oil and gas.
Other partly state owned companies like Telenor, Hydro and Yara, have long ago gone international and are well managed and provide for important income to the state as well.
In addition, with Norway being a big global investor, there is a growing political concern regarding the ethical dimension of these investments. The Labour Party holds the view that the investments should provide for global sustainability with an emphasis on human rights, stopping climate change and labour rights with the right to have trade unions.
Environment and Climate
The Norwegian Labour Party, who once had the mother of the great report on environment and development; “Our Common Future”, Gro Harlem Brundtland as its chair and famous prime minister, in its new political programme states ambitious goals for the environment and regarding fighting climate change. It wants Norway to front a global campaign to make sure that the Paris Agreement is being implemented in full, and it wants through its development policies to support developing countries in their efforts to change policies in favour of stopping climate change. Transport in Norway shall radically change, and from 2025 only new electric cars may be sold. Norway shall be an International leader in the development of technologies that are sustainable and contribute to catching and storing carbon, radically reducing CO2 omissions and stopping climate change.
Higher taxes
The present Norwegian coalition government of the Conservative Party and the far right laissez faire oriented Progressive Party, the latter also being very anti-immigration, with the parliamentary support of the two minor parties, the Liberal Party and the Christian Peoples Party, has in the present period made tax cuts one of their prioritized policies with annual cuts of about 3 billion EURO that in the main has benefitted the rich.
The Labour Party is heavily criticising the government for these policies claiming that they add to a development of increasing inequality in Norwegian society while having no positive impact on investment and employment.
Increased taxes are therefore another election promise from Labour that may sound more controversial than it is. Labour promises an improved welfare society with strong emphasis on public education, health care with a clear no to out-sourcing and privatization of basic social services. The is a message that goes well with the large majority of Norwegian voters.
The question of just and efficient taxation is not only a national concern, but closely linked to the big and complex global problems, tax evasion, capital flight and the black economy. The Labour Party wants to pursue a policy with likeminded international partners that go for regulation of the financial markets, demanding transparency and the right of consumers to be heard. The fight against the many tax heavens that we find around the globe which a key tool for all those who are hiding big fortunes, is another closely linked priority.
Stronger trade unions
There has always been a strong link between the Norwegian Labour Party and the trade unions, and the new party leader Jonas Gahr Støre who succeeded Jens Stoltenberg 3 years ago, made it a strong point in his speech to the party congress that policies that aim to encourage working people to organise in trade unions, must be strengthened. The new party leader, who has his academic education from France, has both on this and other political points obviously taken advice from Thomas Piketty and his book, The Capital.
Winning the forthcoming election?
The present conservative government sailed for the first couple of years after winning the elections in 2013 in fairly, smooth political waters. This has changed quite dramatically over the last year. It has carried out a reform aiming to reduce the number of municipalities that has not gone well with the voters. The same goes for the police reform and other reforms of public services where centralisation is said to be a mean to improve services.
Norway is scarcely populated with only 5,2 million inhabitants in area of 323 771 square km. People living in the rural areas and in small towns, fear that the reforms will make them the losers, and all this has produced a populist mood that is anti the present government. The opinion polls have therefore for the last 8 months showed a steady increase for the Centre Party which for the main has an agrarian and rural base, and at the same time is a certain coalition partner for the Labour Party. The gain for the Centre Party has no doubt influenced the Labour Party which in its new political programme promises to undo some of the unpopular, centralizing reforms carried out by the present conservative government, and supporting the views of the Centre Party when it comes to decentralisation and a more even share of investments and services for the regions far away from the capital of Oslo. An important part of these policies is to maintain the basic structure of Norwegian agriculture with independent farmers owning their own land.
If the figures from the polls of present turn out to be the election result in September, then it is almost sure that the Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre who in Stoltenberg’s former Labour government served as Foreign Minister and thereafter Minister of Health, will be the next Norwegian Prime Minister. But to be on the safe side, he might need a second coalition partner. He seems to prefer the Christian Peoples Party that at present is supporting the conservative/right wing government while he keeps the door open for the left-wing socialist party.
Social democracy in the Nordic countries
While socialist and social democratic parties in many other European countries at present fair badly, the same parties do well in most Nordic countries.
In Sweden, the Labour leader Stefan Løfven in coalition with the Green Party and with parliamentary support from the Socialist Left Party, has successfully ruled Sweden for the last couple of years. The Swedish economy is again performing well, unemployment is decreasing and people in Sweden seems to sense a new optimism. New elections will take place in 2018, and it is not a big bet that Swedish Social Democracy with Stefan Løfven in charge will continue to rule Sweden.
In Denmark, there is a centre right coalition government headed by the liberal-conservative Prime Minister Lars Røkke Rasmussen, but it is getting increasingly unpopular. The present polls in Denmark are consistent and show the Social Democrats with their new leader Mette Rasmussen the likely winners in the next elections. However, no majority alone, but in coalition with the parties in the centre and on the left.
Finland is for historical reasons somewhat different from the three Scandinavian countries with a Social Democratic Party that traditionally has gained less in the elections than what has been the case in the three countries discussed above. At present, Finland is ruled by a centre-right coalition government with a solid parliamentary majority.
Iceland, the very smaller of the Nordic countries and situated far out in the Atlantic, has in recent years had a more volatile political situation that what has been the case with the other Nordic countries. The political turmoil in Iceland has to a large extent been linked to the financial crisis of 2008/9 and the political scandals that were revealed, involving both the President and the Prime Minister at the time who had close family members with big money hidden in tax heavens. The Social Democrats were in charge of the clean-up. They lost heavily in the aftermath and have not yet recovered while the left leaning voters in Iceland rally behind different parties like the Green Party and the Pirate Party. Iceland is at present ruled by a coalition of the centre-right.
Social Democracy and the trade unions in the Nordic countries
There has always in the Nordic countries been a strong link between the Social Democratic/Labour parties and the trade unions. The organisation of workers has historically been strong and far above the average of the OECD countries. Iceland has at present the highest level of organised labour with 85 percent, followed by Sweden 65 %, then Denmark and Finland and Norway last with approximately 50 %. But in the period between 1992 and 2013, the level of organised labour in the Nordic countries dropped with 35 percent. The reasons being declining industries, increase in outsourcing and privatisation of public production and services, and the emergence of new private services of different kinds. In addition, the freeing of the European labour market and the flow of cheap labour from the new member countries of the EU into the Nordic labour market, named social dumping, has posed severe challenges both for the trade unions and the governments.
The Nordic social democratic parties and the trade unions have their own Nordic Co-operation Committee which is composed of the top political leadership. They meet regularly to discuss issues of common interest. It is no secret that the need to formulate policies that encourage new growth of membership in the trade unions and thereby a stronger political labour is a priority at present.
A Difficult Political Undercurrent
It began in the late 1960ies and early 1970ies with a need for more Labour and labour migrants from Turkey, later Pakistan and South Asia. They were invited to seek employment with industries in need in the Scandinavian countries.
In the 1990ies and later, conflicts and war in countries like Sri Lanka, The Middle East, Somalia and the Horn of Africa made hundreds of thousands of people flee towards Europe and many of them seeking asylum here.
In Scandinavia, Sweden was the preferred country, but also many coming to Denmark and Norway. It has all added to a population increase in all the three countries. Sweden has received most migrants and they now make up some 19 % of the population, Norway is second with some 17 % and Denmark last with some 15 %. All this produced a popular and political back clash, and anti migrant and refugee political parties emerged, first in Denmark, then in Norway and only later in Sweden. It has to a certain extent split the vote base for the Social democrats and made many voters move from the centre-left to the ant-immigration, populist parties on the very right. In Denmark, the Danish Peoples Party has for long had a strong influence on Danish policies regarding refugees and asylum seekers. In Norway that probably has had the most successful integration policies of the Scandinavian countries, the right wing Progressive Party gained a strong foothold in the 1990ies and has in the last three years been in government with the Conservative Party. Not only that, it is keeping the ministries of Justice and Immigration and has turned Norway into one of Europe’s least accessible countries for refugees and asylum seekers. Sweden that has carried the most liberal tradition with regard to immigration, refugees and asylum seekers, has over the last couple of years had to change policies, making Sweden more like Denmark and Norway.
For the Labour parties of Scandinavia, the question of immigration, refugees and asylum seekers has become a very difficult issue to handle politically. If they go liberal on the issue, they are doomed to lose voters and the political support they need to govern. At the recent congress of the Norwegian Labour Party there was a revolt growing with a majority ready to demand a more liberal policy for refugees and asylum seekers. The party leadership fought hard to convince the delegates to remain loyal to the rather hard policy line they wanted. There was a compromise that makes Norway remain pretty inaccessible for the “les miserable” of this world. The Labour leadership see it as a necessary price to be paid to win the elections in September.
*Free lance writer in Norway
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