(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The Center Alternative and the Center Party. The Enox would like to have a closer cooperation with the SV, but it seems SV chooses the wrong strategy when they want to have the Labor Party.
- The center parties should not be the problem for SV. On the other hand, the Labor Party's policy should be a major problem. What both Kristin Halvorsen and the rest of SV must make clear to themselves is that they want to cooperate with a Labor Party that does not exist in today's reality.
New EU fight
- With its policy, the Labor Party will have a completely different society than what we in the center-left alternative want, says Odd Roger Enoksen.
He points out that the Labor Party's long-term goal is for Norway to become a member of the EU. – They work every single day to link Norway more closely to the EU. For us, it is impossible to sit in government with a party that wants Norway to join the EU.
More to get downtown
Odd Roger Enoksen is in no doubt that SV has the most to gain by forgetting the current Labor Party and rather try to start a closer collaboration with the three center parties. – SV has more to gain from a close collaboration with the center parties on matters of the heart that the parties have in common than dreaming that the Labor Party will change its policy ..
The center party leader has no belief whatsoever in a collaboration between SV, Ap and Sp for the foreseeable future.
- We have a lot in common with SV, and have many issues we can fight for together. There is no problem with a closer collaboration with SV. We have overlapping interests in a number of important areas such as distribution policy, environmental policy, international solidarity and not least the fight against the Labor Party's and the right – wing parties' centralization policy, says Odd Roger Enoksen.
- We must also remember that SV as the only party in the Storting aimed to overthrow the Bondevik government. With that attitude, they do not make it easier for us to find them in a government collaboration.
Adoption
One of the contentious issues at this year's national meeting at Gardermoen is the discussion about gay rights to adoption and whether gay theologians should be able to be employed in the church.
These are issues that Odd Roger Enoksen and large parts of the party leadership are on the same lines as the SV.
Odd Roger Enoksen says he supports the government's proposal that sexual orientation should not preclude employment in the church. The government is working on a proposal that will make it impossible for the church to refrain from hiring gays in consecrated positions.
- For me, this is a question of human vision, and I can not see anything wrong with gays also being able to function as priests.
The Center Party's position may be decisive for what the Storting ultimately agrees with.
The Center Party's national meeting also addresses the issue of gay rights to adopt. Here there is disagreement in the party. In the draft program no common position has been reached. A minority does not want gays to have the right to adopt unless one partner is connected to the child. In the draft program it is proposed that gays should have the opportunity to adopt on the same terms as heterosexuals.
Vice President Åslaug Haga is in a third minority who wants to take the whole point out of the program. Odd Roger Enoksen is in line with his deputy leader, and they both justify that in this matter, party members should be set free and take a personal stand without having to follow the party line.
- We do not have a tradition in the Center Party to bind the members to a specific position. It must be their conviction that decides what they choose to support, says Odd Roger Enoksen.
He himself believes that gays should have the opportunity to adopt on the same terms as heterosexuals. And he will work for that.
Common issues
Odd Roger Enoksen believes and hopes that the parties will continue to find each other important issues in the future, even though he does not believe in government cooperation based on the SV's desire to be open with the Labor Party.
- There is nothing wrong with SV. We have a lot of common ideas that we should further refine together. The parties have overlapping interests in a number of important issues in current politics, including the question of whether Statoil should be privatized and how much the state should sell of the SDFI shares. The sick pay scheme is also an issue the parties agree on.
- In the question of Statoil and the SDFI, the Labor Party has unfortunately chosen to get support from the Conservatives. But the Center Party and SV have found each other with a joint proposal, says Enoksen.
Ap, SV and Sp have similar interests in ensuring a good sick pay scheme. This is an issue as there is internal disagreement in the downtown alternative. The Left and the KrF both want to find a solution together with the right parties.
- When it comes to the sick pay scheme, we have a case where SV, Ap, and Sp stand together. The Center Party has long been the guarantor that the sick pay scheme will not be weakened, and we will continue to do so, says Odd Roger Enoksen.
- We made sure that the Bondevik government did not do anything with the sick pay scheme, and we will fight for that in the future as well.
Trade unions
But what will the Center Party do to the parties in the labor market? LO has now opened for SV to be invited to their congresses. Does Odd Roger Enoksen have a dream of being invited to the LO Congress in four years?
- It is up to LO and other trade unions to decide for themselves who will participate in the congresses. But the Center Party tries to have good contact with all the parties in the labor market. We have for several years had a good collaboration with several trade unions, and we hope that we will also achieve this in the future.
Odd Roger is not too proud to boast that the Bondevik government opened for closer contact between the state administration and the trade unions.
- We want a closer dialogue with the parties in the labor market, and that is why we opened up to involve them more in cases where they were interested in having a say in the state administration. We believe it is better to have a good dialogue in advance of important decisions. This is a scheme that the Labor Party governments have not done anything to develop.
