Norway’s Parliament made an historic decision this week when it stood united in its criticism of the government for its failure to protect the people on July 22, 2011, when a right-wing terrorist launched an attack. The prime minister called the settlement “a dignified political ending” to a national crisis.
The Parliament agreed across party lines that the government had not sufficiently implemented measures that could have prevented the terrorist’s attacks. While Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg viewed this as a sign that the opposition agreed with the criticism he himself expressed on behalf of the government last year, the opposition said it was historic that the other government partners criticized their own government for being unable to protect the people, reported news agency NTB.
“I perceive the core of the critique from the supervisory committee as coinciding with the basis for my own apology,” Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told Parliament this week. “It is a united political Norway that shares the reality and that now ends the July 22-case in terms of looking back.”
Stoltenberg also told Parliament that the government would soon present a forward-looking plan involving the 31 suggestions made by the government commission appointed to examine the emergency response to the attacks. The commission unleashed a barrage of criticism against the police and politicians as well as the government.
newsinenglish.no staff
