(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The main disarmament policy divide in Norwegian party politics over the past five years has been about whether Norway should join the UN treaty on a nuclear ban or not. The dynamics in this case make the Center Party's election program absolutely decisive for whether this will be possible in the event of a change of government. Then ORIENTERING completed before printing, just before the Center Party's national meeting adopts its election program, the matter is still unresolved.
The Liberal Party's government alternative, by the Socialist People's Party, the Labor Party and the Socialist People's Party, initially wanted Norway to participate in the negotiation of the nuclear ban on the UN. The government disagreed and decided that Norway should not take part in the negotiations. When the agreement was then negotiated and presented to the member states for signing, Norway was still on the sidelines with its NATO allies. The Alliance's strategic concept defines the use of nuclear weapons as the Alliance's ultimate security guarantee. The question of whether Norway can join the ban on nuclear weapons as a NATO member is at the heart of the controversy in Norwegian party politics. Since the ban on nuclear weapons was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in the autumn of 2017, more than fifty states have ratified the treaty. Thus, the ban on nuclear weapons became international law from 22 January this year. With that, the pressure increases for the peace nation Norway itself to join the nuclear weapons ban.
The Center
The Norwegian parties' positions in the case are in motion. This autumn, the Liberal Party, KrF, SV, MDG and Rødt will go to the polls on programs that support Norwegian support for the UN nuclear ban. The Progress Party and the Conservatives are equally clear that they do not want this. The Labor Party is unclear in the matter and concludes in its program that the nuclear ban is a good initiative, and that it should be a goal for Norway to join the nuclear ban – but that it is not possible for NATO countries like Norway to join this in today's security policy situation. Here, therefore, the Labor Party chooses an intermediate solution: an objective to accede to the agreement, at the same time as they consider this to be politically impossible in the current situation. Thus, the SP's party program's formulation in the case will in practice be able to determine whether a change of government this autumn will lead to Norwegian accession to the UN nuclear ban in the foreseeable future.
The decision of the SP National Assembly may prove to be of historical significance for the peace nation Norway.
In a previous parliamentary election program, the Center Party has argued that Norway should join the nuclear weapons ban, without reservation. The program committee's final draft of Sp's principle and action program for 2021–2025 is more unclear. It is said here that Sp will "study the consequences for Norway of a ratification of the treaty on nuclear weapons bans, and actively contribute to broad international support for the work against nuclear weapons". This must be understood as being more supportive of Norwegian support for the nuclear weapons ban than the Labor Party goes to the polls for, but this support is therefore not unreserved.
If the Center Party's national meeting rather concludes with an unequivocal yes to Norway's support for the prohibition treaty, this decision, together with SV's unreserved support, could decide the matter in the event of a change of government. If, on the other hand, Sp decides that Norway should not accede to the Prohibition Treaty, it becomes almost inconceivable that a change of government will lead to Norwegian accession. But with the program committee's proposal for wording in the case, a change of government could just as easily mean a continuation as a change in Norway's position in the case. The SP National Assembly's decision in this case can thus quickly prove to be of historical significance for the peace nation Norway.
