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Foreign aid hasn’t hindered begging

July 13, 2012  

Several Norwegian politicians have claimed recently that the best way to halt an influx of beggars to Norway is to keep extending foreign aid to their poverty-stricken homelands, to help them stay home. Many of those now in Oslo, though, are from Romania, a country that’s already receiving billions in foreign aid from Norway. That raises questions about whether the aid is getting to the people for which it’s intended.

An influx of beggars, mostly from Romania, has set off hefty debate in Oslo and several other Norwegian cities this summer. PHOTO: Views and News

As late as March of this year, Norway entered into its largest cooperation pact with Romania to date (external link). The Norwegian government agreed to pump NOK 2.3 billion (around USD 367 million) into Romania, to strengthen its justice system and, not least, improve the situation for the country’s Roma people.

Romania is also among countries that’s received the most financial aid from the three countries outside the EU – Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein – that are members of the European Economic Area and cooperate with the EU. Now some Norwegian officials and researchers are questioning whether the money can really help, because of a political crisis and allegedly rampant corruption in the country that threaten Romania’s economic growth.

The country continues to suffer economic crisis, “and hard times will always be an incentive to leave your homeland,” Line Eldring of the research institution Fafo in Oslo told newspaper Dagsavisen this week. “It can lead to increased migration to Norway.”

Ordered to disband church camp
The number of beggars holding Romanian passports in Oslo has increased markedly during the past year, and has stirred controversy, not least after around 200 of them set up camp outside an Oslo church this week and later demanded NOK 1 million to leave. On Friday they were told by church officials that their camp must by removed by Saturday.

Oslo residents and officials alike are frustrated not so much over the begging itself as over the widespread violation of regulations against camping in local parks and elsewhere within city limits, the littering and use of public areas as open-air toilets. Other residents have complained over groups of migrants rummaging through their garbage cans, or playing accordions in otherwise quiet neighbourhoods and parks, in the hopes of collecting money from passersby.

The billions in foreign aid from Norway to Romania is largely aimed at providing better opportunities for poor Romanians, not least Roma people who have been subject to discrimination for years. The country is mired in political chaos, though, as its prime minister, Victor Ponta, allegedly has stripped power from the country’s president and its court system. Ponta was summoned to Brussels this week by EU commissioners demanding an explanation.

Meanwhile, Romanis has been labelled as “very corrupt” by the watchdog agency Transparency International, with its former prime minister recently convicted on corruption charges. The New York Times reported recently that corruption complaints have been filed against more than 1,000 teachers, doctors, police officers and generals.

‘Close contact‘
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has claimed there is “close contact and cooperation” between Norway and Romania and he expected that to strengthen. Norwegian officials especially want to help Romanians combat organized crime and human trafficking, improve social welfare programs and boost education opportunities for children.

“Norway has a great interest in expanding the cooperation with Romania,” said state secretary Gry Larsen when she signed the aid deal in Bucharest last spring. She has since left the foreign ministry, with others now in charge of monitoring how Norway’s aid is being used.

Views and News from Norway/Nina Berglund

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  • http://profile.yahoo.com/OAB2M4F57JQCYQDKYM6K5PWX2Q Ulrik

    Have Norwegians taken leave of their senses? First, Norway agrees to ‘pump NOK 2.3 billion’ into Romania to strengthen its justice system’. Yet it IS the justice system that is accused of being one of the most corrupt in Europe. As if to say ‘Hei, we hear you are corrupt, so here’s a bundle of free cash to encourage you to not be!’ The Norwegian tax payer is bleeding cash to reward bad behavior.

    And what is the net effect? Countries realize that ‘heart of gold’ Norway is a Cash Cow, then they secure billions for free and (as is now directly proven)… this only encourages people from the same country to travel here and demand even more cash to leave.

    Dear countrymen, can we please be sensible with the hard earned funds we will need for our children when the oil dries up? Can we please upgrade the schools first? Can we please supply instant treatment for cancer patients regardless of cost? Can we please fund ‘back to life’ programs for our own poor suffering drug addicts?

    I am well open to correction if I have misunderstood the facts, but I believe it high time that Normen realize that we are the best kind and the equal of any people or country in the world. And we don’t need to show up at every party, and buy all the drinks to prove it!

    • aquacalc

      “Countries realize that ‘heart of gold’ Norway is a Cash Cow…”
      I agree. I have seen this in some people — certainly not all, but quite a few — in the Western Balkans, too.

      It used to remind me of the way that a hungry Homer Simpson sometimes would imagine a smiling, giant glazed donut with legs: In the same way, some of these people behaved as though the Norwegians with whom they dealt were smiling, bulging bags of NOKs with legs.

      It all depends on the people with whom you deal. e.g., I know students who remain deeply appreciative of the life-changing opportunities afforded them by Norwegian largesse. Some work and pay taxes in Norway today.

      On there other hand, there are the “higher-ups” with whom one often is forced to deal. Frequently trained in the old political system, these people are conditioned to mis-interpret an act of kindness as an act of weakness. They *despise* weakness and quickly take full advantage of anyone they deem to be weak. Money meant for good purposes ‘disappears’ in their hands. In many cases, I have seen my Norwegian colleagues be much too nice and forgiving with this latter group, thus reinforcing their behavior.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/XFDJ5MQFHSZQQD6PPOJYC5XJTI Blec

    Ulrik, the first thing I would challenge are the amounts: couple of billions for Romania is quite a large amount (probably 20-30% of the country’s deficit). So I don’t think that money ever reached Romania.
    The other think is fixing Justice in Romania will not help you with Roma beggars; what worked in other countries is fixing the legal loopholes in Norway so that beggibg does not pay off: that is the only way to stop that phenomenon. To put it simply begging for Roma people is an acceptable business and they are very good business people: it is not a social issue. The beggars are brought (you might say employed) for begging.
    To be honest, what Romania needs most is not money but help to enforce the rule of law and have a better administration.

    • http://profiles.google.com/kiwi.robbie Robert Cumming

      2.3 billion NOK is only 330 million Euro, I doubt that’s 20-30% of the countries debt.

  • SusanintheSouth

    I will tend to agree with Ulrik’s comments and his understandings. Basically, the Roma people have been advertising underground and through out the country, go to Norway and have it good. Free stuff everywhere, aid and no real working required. Dis-functional government in Norway that can not deal with controversy or situations with non-Norwegian peoples. You don’t set limits, you don’t enforce them and for Norwegians, we only see that the higher and higher percentage of taxes get’s spent on welfare that is not justified. Those that come to Norway need to have 100% employment and wages to live off of after 3 months or go back. The end. They need to speak Norwegian within 3 years or go back. No person should be allowed to live off the state for more than 3 months or go back if they are disabled or not able to work. This is not a social dumping ground for those that don’t want to work. There are many, (many of those shown in the videos of the Roma moving from Oslo to the rock site to camp) that are organizers for begging collections, thefts and not interested in real work, only partial substandard work enough to get Norway to foot the rest of the bill for these Roma living here without working. That it wrong. If you want to move to Norway then become Norwegian and learn the language and work 110 percent and make a living wage. If not, go beg somewhere else. Again, I’m more upset with the organized begging and thefts than anything else…accept the organized efforts to “go around the systems” and get so many aid and wages here in Norway when they should be working or go home. Yes, the billions being spent in Romania are worthwhile if you can document that the people are getting the funds and it is not corrupt or not going to “administration” people totally…which should be easy enough to validate if you try, but Norway is not responsible for Romanian people. They are. They need to do it or the people live there with what they have. Not bring begging and lack of work ethic to Norway because of the corruption and what they bring in corruption to Norway. Not fair, Not right, send them back.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1663265288 Dana P. Vintersol

    i would like to comment also… I am a Romanian but for the last 5 years i live outside of that country.I call it that country because i do not identify myself it with.Specially because of the corruption that ruined each good persons life.Ulrik is right to think to his own country i would do the same and also Blec. I never hear about a help with such an amount of money for Romania from Norway,Iceland or Lichtenstein.

    Plus one thing that hurts me the most that we all romanians are compared with Rroma people.we have nothing to do with them they are not romanians they migratate some 300 years from Asia and stayed there with their own language traditions and ways of doing.

    As my final opinion the Norwegian authorities should send them back no matter what and put i don’t know a stamp or a sticker to their passport so they can’t go back until they have a contract for a job or some proof that that they sustain themself.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/CGQ3ZUBIRICIBVYNYKLYBPPOME Richard John

    These are not poverty stricken beggars, on a recent trip to Oslo I saw one of the talking on a mobile phone! These people are fraudsters and charlatans, and should be removed from the streets before they turn into a plague, they are already so widespread in Stavanger that you have to be careful to not trip over them in some of the narrow streets.

  • Hegland

    I am an American of Norwegian descent and would love to live and work in Norway near my ancestral home on Sognfjord. But it would be much easier if I were from some disadvantaged or refugee population, or an EU country, than of Scandinavian heritage. To get a work permit as a non-EU citizen takes much longer than EU citizens, regardless of heritage, and we’re only allowed to work 3 months. I’m studying Norwegian and being around native speakers would be very helpful. Since I don’t speak Norwegian and know the technical language of my professional field, port management, I went to school to get a culinary degree. This summer I went to work at a resort on Sognfjord. The kitchen language was supposed to be English, and I had hoped to practice my Norwegian with other native speakers. I discovered that the recipes were not written down, and the other chefs were Polish and VERY aggressive in their work for fear of losing these valuable jobs. I found our cultural differences overwhelming, and left early. I live in a multi-cultural area and while support cross cultural exchanges, I’d like to live in a community that is more homogenous with fewer cultural differences that make it easier to have a sense of community. I think Norway should be cautious about becoming like the U.S. If Norway needs migrant workers, why not bring back the descendants of those who had to leave Norway to survive? I’m a hard worker and wish achieving this dream was easier.

    • NorwayExpat123

      It is much harder for a European to get a work permit for the US than it is for an American to come to Norway, that is a fact. Your comment that it would be “much easier if you were from some disadvantaged or refugee population” is foolish, there is nothing easy about being in that situation. Your desire to come to Norway as an immigrant and be a part of a homogenous community also doesn’t make any sense, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Nothing worth doing is easy, if you make an effort to overcome cultural differences you can have a very good sense of community in a multicultural society. I don’t see why an American should get preferential treatment over a Pole or a Romanian or any other group; the fact that your ancestors left Norway many years ago also has no bearing on this. Individuals who can contribute to Norwegian society should be welcomed based on their skills and qualifications, not the ethnic or cultural group they belong to.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578816806 Neil Ramsbottom

      If we were to use lineage as a basis for immigration policy then everybody would be permitted to migrate freely as we are all descended from people that left Africa 60,000 years ago.