– In the dialogue between the offices of the Ministry of Health and SMK, misunderstandings unfortunately arose, says communications manager Anne Kristin Hjukse at the Prime Minister’s office in a written statement to NRK on Friday afternoon.
After police press conference Friday On Friday, NRK gained access to parts of the dialogue between SMK and the Ministry of Health and Care Services (HOD) about the Prime Minister’s visit to Geilo.
It shows that HOD 19 March – the same day as the police said opened investigation – sent over a note with a preliminary assessment of whether the dinner in the apartment in Geilo was an event within the meaning of the Covid-19 regulations.
– This does not work, says the Labor Party’s Cecilie Myrseth to NRK.
– These documents show that Erna Solberg has received assistance from the Ministry of Health and Care Services in her private criminal case. These are legal assessments of a type of ordinary people who have to pay a lawyer a high hourly rate to do, she continues.
The investigation was started after that NRK 18 March could reveal that Erna Solberg’s family could have broken the rules for infection control, and that she herself had broken the recommendations.
Changed assessment
VG wrote on Thursday this week that the newspaper already before Easter asked whether SMK had obtained legal assessments or input from the Government Advocate, the ministries or others.
– The case documents that are covered by your request for access are exempt from public access, SMK replied by e-mail.
On Friday, NRK gained access to parts of the dialogue between the Ministry of Health and SMK.
It happened after the police determined that the prime minister will receive a fine of 20,000 kroner after the birthday celebration in Geilo.
– The attached documents were first exempted from the public because a publication could be perceived as an attempt to influence the police investigation. Now that the police have closed the criminal case, we have chosen to show more insight and publish these documents, Hjukse writes to NRK.
When NRK first contacted questions about whether the prime minister’s family had broken the infection control rules, it became clear that the dinners on Friday and Saturday night could have been a breach of rules and recommendations, the communications manager emphasizes.
– The office at the Prime Minister’s Office (SMK) contacted the office at the Ministry of Health and Care Services (HOD) to make sure that SMK’s office had a correct understanding of the rules and recommendations that applied during the winter holidays, she writes.
Would not have a review
The documents that NRK has been given access to thus show that the Ministry of Health on 19 March sent over an assessment of whether the covid 19 regulations applied to Solberg’s sushi dinner in Geilo.
A senior adviser at SMK thanks in an email just after HOD for “quick response and a good note”.
But according to the Prime Minister’s office, it was not such a note Erna Solberg had asked for. It also appears from an email that expedition chief Therese Steen at SMK sent to the ministry somewhat later the same day.
– The Prime Minister has been clear that she did not want any concrete legal assessment of what happened in Geilo, because she believed that the investigation was a relationship only between her and the police, writes Hjukse.
She says the purpose of the inquiry to the Ministry of Health was to obtain a general overview of the “legal source picture related to what was an event in accordance with the Covid-19 regulations”. This was done to ensure that the answers given by SMK to the media were correct when it came to infection control rules and recommendations.
– It was obvious that the case would get a lot of media interest and that the media would turn to SMK’s communications section and state secretaries with press responsibility, Hjukse writes further.
SUSHI DINNER IN GEILO: It was in a rented apartment at Ustedalen Hotell & Resort that Erna Solberg’s family ate sushi, with 14 people present.
Photo: Caroline Utti / NRK
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“Justified doubt”
The material that NRK has had access to includes two different notes. A concrete assessment of the sushi dinner for the Solberg family, which SMK states that they did not ask for, and a broader assessment of how the regulations should generally be understood when it comes to what is an event and not.
The assessment from the ministry about the dinner itself states the following:
«The dinner in the apartment at the hotel on the occasion of the family’s stay at the same hotel appears more like an everyday event than a festive occasion. Many will probably hesitate to refer to such an event as an event ».
The Ministry states that “it takes more to regard a social gathering with a few people in a large room as a private gathering covered by the rules for events”. It is also pointed out that the actual 60th anniversary was held the day before. And concludes:
“There is therefore at least justified doubt as to whether the joint dinner in the hotel room or the rented apartment is considered a private gathering within the meaning of the regulations.”
In assessing whether the Prime Minister can be punished, the Ministry of Health writes that “there are requirements for a clear legal basis for punishment” and that there are grounds for raising doubts as to whether the matter can be punished.
“This indicates that the police will have a basis for closing the case in question with an unclear legal situation as justification,” the assessment states.
Same day
The dialogue between SMK and the Ministry of Health took place on 19 March, the same day as Dagbladet received what the newspaper describes as a “very detailed email” from the ministry’s communications department.
According to the newspaper, the email stated, among other things, that the covid 19 regulations do not cover cabins and rented apartments – which the Solberg family used.
– The similarity with private homes, the need to respect privacy and the prehistory of the regulations indicate that the regulations do not apply to gatherings in hotel rooms and in short-term rented apartments, it says in the statement from the ministry that was sent to Dagbladet.
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