Longyearbyen planned to become smaller and more Norwegian
Words of almost refreshing honesty: According to the Norwegian news website NRK, the Norwegian government aims at making Longyearbyen’s population smaller and more Norwegian.
Longyearbyen (here on 17th May, the Norwegian national day) is a very Norwegian settlement, regardless of the international parts of its population. Nobody is questioning that – with the possible exception of the Norwegian government itself, which aims at reducing the population and increasing the Norwegian part of it. To achieve this goal, Oslo politicians don’t seem to have any inhibition to discriminate directly against foreigners, for example by dispossessing them of their local voting rights.
“The population of the archipelago is too high and it should not grow any further. The population needs a higher proportion of Norwegian citizens”, this is how NRK quotes the government, namely undersecretary of sate John-Erik Vika (Senterpartiet/Centre Party) in the ministry of justice, which is responsible for large parts of Norway’s Svalbard politics.
Longyearbyen locals with citizenship other than Norwgian have experienced Norwegian Svalbard and Longyearbyen policy – the part that is made in Oslo, to be more precise – in part as discriminating. A prominent example is last year’s decision to dispossess most foreigners of their local voting rights.
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last modification: 2023-03-26 ·
copyright: Rolf Stange