Labor deputy leader Tonje Brenna in the parliamentary hall on Tuesday. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB
Tonje Brenna (Ap) denies that new information appears in the documents that were sent to the control committee before the weekend. Yes, replies Frp.
Reporting from the Storting on Tuesday 5 March at 1:30 p.m
The short version
- Tonje Brenna (Ap) rejects that there is new information in documents sent to the control committee before the weekend, Frp believes it is new information.
- FRP submits a motion of no confidence against Brenna, but has not received support from other parties.
- MDG wants new investigations to see if Brenna has breached the obligation to provide information, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party consider the same.
- Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre gives his full support to Brenna.
Sea view
On Friday, she criticized herself for not receiving more documents from the Storting’s Control and Constitution Committee.
– After the committee’s recommendations were presented, questions have been directed at me. I have been keen to be open and explained thoroughly in several letters to the committee, says Brenna from the floor of the Storting.
– The criticism the committee makes is the same one I directed at myself when I presented the case last summer, she says.
The FRP announced on Tuesday that they would table a motion of no confidence against Brenna, because they believe she has given incorrect or misleading information to the Storting. That means they think she should resign. They have so far not received support from other parties.
Jonas Gahr Støre and Tonje Brenna cross their paths on their way up and down the Storting’s podium. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB
The background is that Dagens Næringsliv, just before the control committee’s conclusion, published information from several documents, which showed how Brenna was informed that Utøya received money via the Wergeland center.
The center again received money from the ministry for Brenna.
Last week, Brenna asked the Ministry of Education to forward several documents to the committee. The ministry did that.
– Because of the questions that were asked, I spoke to the case mayor Grunde Almeland (V). We agreed on a separate letter to the control committee. I also asked the Ministry of Education to send the internal organizational notes to the committee, says Brenna.
– The documents are not new information, but have been explained by me previously, she says.
She emphasizes that she was clear that the money for the Wergeland center was going to Utøya AS, among other things, in a letter to the committee on 27 June last year. She says that she was not aware that this meant that she was incompetent towards Utøya – and that she has apologized for this error.
– New information
The FRP believes that this is new information. They say that Brenna should have sent the documents much earlier.
– There is new information that has come to light and has been sent to the committee after the case has been completed. This should have been sent at a much earlier time, says Frps Hans Andreas Limi.
– The question that remains is why she did not contribute to clarifying her impartiality in 2022, when she confirms that she received information about the financial ties between the Wergeland Center and Utøya As, adds Limi.
He says that there are still documents that he would like to see, including budget notes and the competence assessment of State Secretary Sindre Lysø (Ap). The committee has not seen that.
May become a new control case
MDG announced that they want to start a new investigation in the control committee to find out whether Brenna has breached the obligation to inform the Storting. The Conservatives and the Left say they are considering doing the same.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) gave his full support to his own minister from the podium.
– I register that a party has promoted a vote of no confidence two hours before the debate. There is no basis for that. Tonje Brenna has my full trust, he says.
– Not rated
Prosecutor Grunde Almeland (V) emphasizes that the committee has not assessed whether Tonje Brenna has breached the duty to provide information, because the information came so late. But he says that the documents do not contain new information that changes the party’s conclusion about Brenna’s competency case.
– The committee has not assessed this relationship, nor have we had time to assess it, says Almeland.
– I see that several people are already drawing conclusions. FRP says she has broken it, Ap says she has not. The Liberal Party cannot vote for such serious claims over the table, he says.