2027 budget deemed lacklustre in the north

The government presented its draft budget for 2027 on Wednesday (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark). In Troms, MP Erlend Svardal Bøe (Høyre) notes that the county is not among the winners: "Troms really is not one of the winners of this budget. It is bland, because there are no major initiatives here," he says.

The bill provides no funding for new police helicopters, even though the Norwegian Police Directorate (Politidirektoratet) has flagged a significant need in Tromsø, Bergen and Trondheim, and the Storting voted in May to follow up on this issue. "It is very disappointing. We will of course strengthen the Defence in the years ahead, but the police have also been given significantly more tasks," the MP continues, while also calling for a strengthening of the University Hospital of North Norway (UNN) and road investments (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

MP Siren Julianne Jensen (MDG) for her part believes that ordinary residents along the frontier with Russia are being forgotten, and is calling for resources for civil society in Finnmark. Even Labour Party representatives in the county show little enthusiasm for the budget proposals (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

In Tromsø, the local Rødt leader, Peder Joakimsen, speaks of a "disgrace". "It is a disgrace that the government is not taking responsibility for the fact that Municipality-Norway is in difficulty and that the welfare state is crumbling," he says. He points out that Tromsø is now the largest municipality in Norway placed under state financial control, on the Robek list. "The government must take this fully seriously. It cannot expect that it is the partner parties that, every time, have to add money to the welfare budget, the municipal budgets and the benefits," he says (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).