Ber Erna snu: – Too bad

– With each passing day, Russia earns more money from the exemption that they can use on the war against Ukraine, says Melby.

As Dagbladet has written, Ukraine has urgently asked Norway to scrap the exception which gives Russian fishing vessels access to Norwegian ports.

Norway has supported the EU’s port ban on Russian ships, but has an exception for the fishing industry. The government has justified this with regard to joint fisheries management.

– Financing Putin’s war

But Venstre leader Guri Melby believes that Norway is indirectly subsidizing the Russian invasion with the move.

– The main problem is that we help finance Putin’s war. The more access Russian super trawlers have to our ports and to our market, the more money they make, and that gives income to the Russian state, which is helping to pay for the war, says Melby to Dagbladet.

Despite the invasion, Norway has imported goods worth around NOK 33 billion in the first half of 2022. They contrast with the NOK 10 billion Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has promised Ukraine in support.

– No other country has a similar exception for Russian super trawlers in the port ban, Skjæran also admitted that to me in the Storting before the summer, says the Liberal leader.

Surprised by the Right

Now the Liberal leader is asking his friends in the Storting for help. She asks that the other opposition parties turn around and cancel the exemption for fishing vessels.

– I am asking the other parties in the Storting to turn the matter around. New facts are constantly coming out that underpin why it is important to have a real port ban, and not just a partial one. I hope that will make more parties see how important this is, says Melby.

The Liberals proposed before the summer to urgently deal with a proposal to scrap the exemption, but only got MDG and KrF with them.

Not least Melby is disappointed with the Conservative Party, from whom she had counted on support in a security policy issue.

– The Conservative Party has been in favor of a port ban. I hope they see that what we have today is not a real port ban, that they continue the line they set out on. They have also been concerned that they should do the same as other European countries. And this is not to do it, says Melby and continues:

– I think it is surprising that the Conservative Party does not support stopping the exception. I had expected that the Conservative Party would have supported us when we proposed urgent treatment of the case, I think it’s a shame that they didn’t, but they can still turn around.

– Misinformed

Norway is the only country in Europe that has a separate exemption for fishing vessels. The Liberal leader believes that the fisheries minister has misinformed the media when he stated that the EU also had such an exception.

– I think the government has clouded the discussion by constantly insisting that we do the same as the EU, and I suspect that this means that some parties that could support this have not done so until now, says Melby.

Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bjørnar Skjæran (Ap) responds to the accusations from Melby as follows:

– Either Melby has not understood, or the Liberals are talking against better people. I have not said that we are doing exactly the same as the EU. Norway has introduced the strictest sanctions ever in Norwegian law, and we stand together with the EU and other countries to ensure that the sanctions against Russia hit hard and effectively.

Skjæran makes it clear that it is not relevant to cancel the exception for the government, and shows, as they have done before, the consideration of joint fisheries management.

– The government has had a crystal-clear line throughout the crisis that we will protect fisheries cooperation in the north. We also said that before the port ban came. Unlike the EU, we have chosen to specify which vessels are covered by the ban. Shortly after the port ban in the EU was adopted, however, the signals the Norwegian civil service received from the EU were that the vast majority of fishing vessels would also be exempt in the EU, writes Skjæran in a statement to Dagbladet.

– Without cooperation on management, research and control, there is a risk that the fish stocks will be fished down. Overfishing can set a population back a long way, and we know that it can take a very long time to rebuild, if you manage to do it at all, continues Skjæran.

At the same time, the Fisheries Minister points out that ships under 500 gross tonnes and which sail commercially are not covered by the EU’s port ban.

– Naive

Dagbladet has previously written about how Ukraine has warned Norway that the fishing vessels can be used for military purposes, such as espionage and smuggling. According to Ukraine, the use of fishing boats is now part of Russia’s military strategy.

– The fact that fishing boats and other vessels are used militarily is something we have strongly suspected for a long time, now Putin has said explicitly that it is used, and then I believe that it is bordering on naive to just let that business continue.

So far, only MDG and KrF have supported the Liberal Party in removing the exception.

However, the response to the call to support the proposal to ban Russian fishing boats from the Conservative Party and leader of the foreign affairs committee Ine Eriksen Søreide is lukewarm.

– We have always been instigators for Norway to consider a port ban and for Norway to and must follow the common European sanctions regime. It is the government that is responsible for making these assessments. As the situation is developing, we believe that the government must make a new assessment of the port ban and what restrictions must be made, writes Søreide in an e-mail to Dagbladet.

– Creates uncertainty

FRP’s foreign policy spokesperson Christian Tybring-Gjedde is not impressed by the criticism from the Liberal leader.

– It is not constructive for the Liberal Party to engage in privately practiced foreign policy. It contributes to creating uncertainty, says Tybring-Gjedde to Dagbladet.

As they have done in the past, the FRP refers to the government.

– Only the government has the full picture of the situation. Such a move is therefore not very constructive, says Tybring-Gjedde.

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