Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

It is a great pleasure to welcome you all to Oslo and the colloquy on regional democracy in Europe. Regional democracy is a very topical issue – in Norway and in other European countries. The Norwegian Government recently submitted a White Paper to the Parliament on the distribution of responsibilities between the different levels of government. We have also just recently presented our European Policy Platform – which includes measures concerning regional and local authorities. Here the importance of cooperation and exchange of expertise between local and regional authorities in Europe is emphasised. I see this colloquy as a contribution in that direction. I hope that we over the next two days will have productive and thought-provoking discussions on regional democracy in Europe.

I would like to begin with a quote from Aristotle: “ A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property and vulgar employments”. These are harsh words - but I believe that democracy has made great progress since the days of Aristotle – women have been given the right to vote and most men have found respectful employment - I hope that this colloquy will contribute to further progress.

Local democracy in Norway

Local democracy is a strong and well-established institution in Norway. Norway has two levels of local government: the municipalities and the county authorities.

Norway is divided into 434 municipalities and 19 county authorities. Oslo is classified as being both a county authority and a municipality. Both the municipalities and the county authorities vary significantly regarding size, topography and population.

The municipalities and the county authorities have the same administrative status whilst central government has the overriding authority and supervision of municipal and county municipal administration. The main representative of central government at the regional level is the County Governor.

The municipalities and the county authorities produce most of public services provided in Norway – about 2/3 of the total production of public services.

The municipality is responsible for the provision of public services at local level and the county authority is responsible for public services at regional level. Another important responsibility for the county authority is regional development. The production of specialised health services used to be the largest and most important task for the county authority. However, from January this year, the responsibility for specialised health services were transferred to the central government.

The organisation of the regional level has for some time been on the political agenda in Norway. We have debated whether Norway should have a two-tier-system of government or, like today, a three-tier-system of government. We have debated the role, tasks and functions of the directly elected county authority – including the division of tasks between the county authority and the central states representative at the regional level, the county governor. The size and number of the county authorities have also been discussed.

White Paper: Basic principles

The White Paper New responsibilities for local government – regional and local level outlines the Government’s views on the distribution of responsibilities between the different levels of government. I will briefly present our proposals in the White Paper. My state-secretary will give you a further presentation tomorrow.

The Government view the proposals in the White Paper as an important contribution to the modernisation of the public sector. To delegate and decentralise authority and responsibilities is the main principle in our endeavour to modernise the public sector. We believe that powers and tasks must be delegated and decentralised to the local and the regional level. To strengthen local democracy at regional and local level is an integral part of this principle. Our commitment to this principle, and to local democracy, is our starting point.

The proposals in the White Paper are based on the principle of subsidiarity. We believe that decisions must be taken at the lowest possible level. Local issues must be solved at the local level. Furthermore, we believe that tasks that require local political discretion should be the responsibility of a democratically elected body.

We also believe that the relationship between the county authority and the municipalities should be based on the principles of equity and equality. The relationship between the two levels of local democracy should not be a hierarchical one. We believe that it would be undemocratic to give the county authority the right to overrule a decision taken by a democratically elected body at the local level. Hence, to control and monitor the municipalities should be the responsibility of a state body. Also appeals and other tasks related to individuals’ legal rights should be the responsibility of a state body – to ensure that similar cases are treated in an equal manner.

Finally, we believe that changes in the distribution of responsibilities should reduce bureaucracy, not increase it.

The Government’s proposals

The Parliament decided last year that the responsibilities for environmental tasks and agricultural tasks should be transferred from the county governor to the county authority. The government has examined these tasks. We found that the tasks that require political discretion are local, not regional. We therefore believe that they should be solved at the local level. Hence, we propose that the majority of the environmental and agricultural tasks are decentralised to the municipalities. We found that the rest of these tasks were related to appeals, control and monitoring of the municipalities. We therefore propose that they still be the responsibility of the county governor.

Pilot- projects

We also propose to establish pilot-projects – more specifically, we propose to integrate the county governor and the county authority in a new unit – the unitary county. It is often claimed that a unitary county is a democratic and effective way to organise the regional level. We hope that the planned pilot-projects will tell us whether this is the case or not.

The county authority as a facilitator for regional development

As I mentioned earlier, regional development is an important task for the county authority. The Government wishes to renew and strengthen the county authority’s role as an actor in regional development. We propose to enhance the county authority’s role as a facilitator for and a partner in regional development.

The county authority has an important role as an ombudsman (on behalf of its inhabitants). The county authority’s democratic legitimacy, combined with its powers related to regional planning, gives it the legitimacy to act as a mediator and a partner in the region.

A regional development policy must be based on local and regional needs and priorities. We believe that in order to achieve regional development, we must give responsibility to, and have confidence in, actors at the local and regional level. We will therefore decentralise the responsibility for the financial resources used on regional and district development from central government to the county authorities. The county authorities will be given greater discretion in the use of the resources.

We stress that the county authority should be a partner in regional development, not a regulator. The county authority must establish, develop and lead regional partnership – which includes central government agencies at the regional level, the municipalities, the business sector, educational institutions and private organisations. To succeed as a partner in regional development, the county authority must succeed in involving and committing all actors. The main task of the regional partnership is to make a regional development program. To strengthen the regional partnership we will consider delegating tasks from central government level to regional level.

Evaluations of the county authority

The Government said in our Inaugural address that we would initiate an evaluation of the county authority. We intend to do this in two steps: 1) we will by the end of this parliamentary period submit an assessment of the county authority to the Parliament, 2) we will in the next parliamentary period initiate a broad evaluation of the county municipality, which also shall include an evaluation of the pilot-projects.

International regional development

As I mentioned earlier, the Government’s European Policy Platform underlines the importance of cooperation and exchange of expertise between local and regional authorities in Europe. One example is international regional development cooperation.

We think that the county authorities’ role as facilitators for regional development should be reflected in their international cooperation. Participation in international cooperation must be used to open new windows of opportunity for regional development. It is also important that the county authorities have a duty to involve the relevant local and regional actors in this work.

International regional development cooperation can, in our opinion, be of great importance. The inspiration for the regional development plans came from abroad – from the European Union’s Structural Funds to be more precise. Involvement in international regional development programs has strengthened the cooperation between regional and local authorities, universities and research institutes and business sectors across borders. It has also strengthened the traditional regional cross border cooperation in the Nordic countries and the cooperation with the European Union on regional development policies. The county authorities have also gained experience in international cooperation – something that is of importance in our day and age.

Finally, I wish to emphasise the Government’s aim to modernise the public sector. We hope that the decentralisation of powers and tasks to the municipalities and the county authorities will create a public sector that is effective, user-friendly and democratic.

Thank you for your attention.