Norwegian Integration Policy Sparks Political Clash Following Paris Riots
Parliamentary leader Tonje Brenna of the Labour Party has criticized Progress Party leader Sylvi Listhaug for using recent violent riots in Paris to warn against similar outcomes in Norway, nrk.no reported. Listhaug traveled to France last week during the unrest and argued that Norway must pursue stricter integration and sustainable immigration policies to avoid comparable civil disorder. Brenna rejected the comparison, contending that the Progress Party’s own integration proposals would act as a motorway to the very conditions Listhaug decried. Listhaug was on a business trip abroad and only had the opportunity to reply in writing to NRK’s inquiry, stating that the Labour Party does not need to try to lecture the Progress Party in the immigration debate and accusing them of being world champions at twisting and turning other people’s policies.
Dispute Over Language Training and Financial Support
The Progress Party has advocated for cutting the introduction program’s duration, reducing participant stipends from 255,000 kroner to approximately 94,000 kroner, and implementing three-week intensive Norwegian language courses. Erlend Wiborg, a Storting representative for the Progress Party, maintained when the measures were discussed two years ago that such steps would push immigrants into jobs more quickly. Brenna countered that these cuts serve as a recipe for poorer language skills and fewer employment opportunities. Listhaug stated that they have never claimed anyone learns Norwegian in just three weeks, pointing out that the Progress Party wants immigrants to get into work more quickly in parallel with Norwegian language training on weekday evenings and weekends, asserting that it is in encounters with other people that immigrants become integrated.
Admissions of Naivety and Ongoing Storting Proposals
The debate follows recent disclosures by NRK showing that four out of five refugees relocate from the small municipalities where they are initially settled. Ola Tore Dokken, the Centre Party mayor of Nordre Land, attributed this trend to inadequate integration that hinders employment. Minister of Labour and Inclusion Kjersti Stenseng stated during an NRK broadcast that the party had underestimated the difficulty of successful integration. Brenna added that no one becomes better integrated by Listhaug describing the problems, emphasizing that what is needed is new solutions, and pointed to a new integration declaration put in place by the Labour Party alongside a proposal to investigate a ten-year relocation ban for settled refugees, both of which have been criticized by the Progress Party for not going far enough.
Listhaug maintained that the Labour Party continues to pursue a failing course despite its admissions. The Progress Party has submitted its own integration contract proposal for consideration in the Storting. Listhaug asserted that her party wants immigrants to learn Norwegian through evening and weekend classes while working concurrently, and that the Progress Party will change the course sharply so that more people are integrated, work, and support themselves.
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