Distinguished European guests,
county governors,
ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for me to welcome you all to Norway and to the ninth European days of State territorial representatives. It is the first time these European days take place in Norway and my government is honoured to host this event.

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The general subject to be addressed over these three days, the safety and security in a period of crises, is of great importance to all of us. Not only to preserve the stability of our societies, but also to protect human dignity.

The terror attacks on 11th September last year demonstrated the vulnerability of modern society. In the wake of these horrific events, much attention has been paid to the various dimensions of security.

From a political perspective, our awareness of vulnerability to different kinds of threats is much greater than it was only a few years ago. However, there are many potential threat scenarios; threats that could unfold in many different ways and would require different strategies and efforts at different levels of society.

In this perspective, it is important that state territorial representatives, who exercise comparable responsibilities in the security field, gather to share experiences and reflections on these matters.

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Before I touch upon some of the challenges, it may be useful to give you a brief introduction to the system of local and regional government in Norway, and in particular, the county governors role within this system.

Our governmental system is divided into three geographical and administrative levels: central, regional and local. At the regional and local levels there are both elected bodies of local government and decentralized agencies of central government.

Local democracy is a strong and well-established institution in Norway. As in the other Scandinavian countries, local government in Norway can trace its modern origins to the middle of the nineteenth century.

At local level Norway is divided into 434 municipalities. At the regional level there are 19 county councils. Both the municipalities and the county councils vary significantly regarding size, topography and population.

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

Recently there have been some changes in the division of tasks and responsibilities between the levels of government. For instance, 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. On the other hand, the county councils will assume greater responsibility for regional development.

The relationship between the two levels of local democracy is not a hierarchical one. The municipalities and the county councils basically enjoy the same administrative status. Hence, the task to control and monitor the municipalities is the responsibility of a state body, which is the prefect, or the county governor.

The main representative of central government at the regional level is the County Governor, in Norwegian: Fylkesmannen. The county governor is a regional government agency subordinate to the ministries. The county governor is the representative of the King and the government in the county and is responsible for the implementation of policy decisions of the Parliament, Stortinget, and the national government .

The county governor should maybe first and foremost be seen as a necessary connecting link between the central government administration and the municipalities in the county. Given the size and shape of Norway, it is an impossible task for the ministries – even with modern technology – to monitor directly the work of each individual municipality.

The main task of the county governor is therefore, on behalf of the ministries, actively to communicate the policies of the Parliament and Government in various specialized fields, such as family and social policy, agricultural policy and environmental policy and, subsequently, to see that they are carried out in accordance with national legislation and the principle of municipal self-government.

In addition to these responsibilities, the county governor also has a responsibility to coordinate the various policies of central government that are directed towards the municipalities. The objective is that the central government should act as consistently as possible in its dealings with the municipalities and that solutions should serve and be effective for society as a whole.

As concerns the main theme for these European Days – security in a time of crises – I will like to emphasise that the county governor has a vital function in crisis management and civil emergency planning. The county governor has responsibility to ensure the necessary preparedness at the regional level and to ensure that the municipalities are in a position to prevent and handle major accidents, crises and disasters in time of war and peace.

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Today’s situation concerning threats against society is complex. The society is not confronted with any single threat, hazard or vulnerability, but a variety of challenges that demand a corresponding variety of preventive and counter measures.

This spring my government presented a white paper to the Storting on the safety and security of society. The report is a comprehensive statement on the government’s proposals to reduce the vulnerability of modern society and how to increase safety and security in the years to come.

The government’s policy on safety and security of society is based upon the principles of liability, decentralisation and conformity. Together these principles are the foundation for establishing efficient crisis prevention and crisis management.

• The principle of liability states corresponding responsibility either when dealing with a normal situation or an extraordinary situation. This principle applies to all public and private activities. In addition each citizen is responsible for his or her own safety. Responsibility for the functions of normal, everyday activities, will presumably improve the ability to handle critical situations. Thus, each Ministry is responsible for emergency planning within its own sector. However, the Ministry of Justice and the Police has been given a more distinct responsibility for coordinating the administration of work on safety, security and emergency planning within the civil sector in general.
• The principle of decentralisation states that the responsibility for crisis management should be handled at the lowest possible level. The county governor is, as the state representative, given a special responsibility for the coordination of crises management.
• The principle of conformity states that society must be able to operate in accordance with normal standards no matter what challenges it is exposed to, and that the structures of responsibility are maintained in extraordinary situations.

Basically, the society must be able to meet any threat and handle any situation that may occur. Citizens should have the right to feel safe. Thus, I think it is necessary to emphasize that work on emergency planning must be given priority in times without any evident threats against society. The objective must be to initiate measures to prepare society to meet any challenge and to secure emergency planning in general.

In order to build a safe and secure society it is necessary to be aware of the vulnerabilities we are confronting. Work on safety and security of society must to a greater extent take into consideration the fact that not only nations are capable of causing great damage. When considering safety and security it is therefore important to give greater attention to the threats represented by terrorism and organised crime.

The September 11 ^th> attacks, as well as recent events in other parts of the world, Europe included, remind us all that there are groups of people prepared to use extreme measures to achieve their goals. The activity of such groups represent a great threat to our society and it makes it even more important that we are fully prepared to handle such actions.

Furthermore, it is necessary to implement measures to increase safety and security towards natural and technological events. When assessing the vulnerability of society, one should consider the consequences of lapses in critical infrastructure, such as lapses in the distribution of power or lapses in telecommunications.

My government has proposed a series of measures to ensure the necessary preparedness and safety at various policy sectors.

In order to meet the threats against information- and communication-technology, a Centre on Information Security will be established. The emergency planning in the power industry will be improved. The emergency planning in the transportation sector is subject to an in depth review, and the changes within the trade and shipping sectors are under way. The threats against the petroleum sector have been subjected to thorough assessment. This is also the case regarding the emergency planning within other important sectors of society, such as the health sector, social security, disease control, finance, food control, water supply and atomic energy.

The emergency planning in case of attacks by weapons of mass destruction is considerably intensified after 11 ^th> September 2001 and further measures will be considered. The plans for preparedness in case of the arrival of large numbers of refugees and people seeking political asylum are being reviewed. Measures to improve the emergency planning in the information sector (press, broadcasting, etc) have also been implemented.

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We live in a world of rapidly increasing interdependence, a world where our security is directly affected by the security of others. And we live in a world of instability.

One important lesson of the ongoing war against terrorism is the importance of international cooperation. This applies to the threat of terrorism, just as it applies to other challenges posed by globalization. The terrorist groups have been operating through the international financial systems to raise and channel the funds they need to operate. In order to deny the activity of these groups it is necessary with a strong and determined cooperation across borders.

The terrorists do not respect international law. We still need to be determined to uphold these standards, as we strive to win the war against terrorism.

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I hope that you over the next three days will have productive and thought provoking discussions on these highly complex and important questions. I am certain that these European days will provide us with insight and knowledge that can inspire the Norwegian as well the European debate.

Thank you for your attention.