The Chairman of the Language Council says no to Bergen
Chairman of the Board, Ottar Grepstad, in the Language Council, speaks up against the proposal to move the council from Oslo to Bergen. The Chairman of the Board of Directors says no to Bergen
– I do not think there are anything in it for the Liberals to air such opinions , he says to the newspaper Bergens Tidende.
According to the newspaper, the party is divided in the question of whether the Language Council is to be moved out of Oslo. Party leader Trine Skei Grande has committed herself against the plan to move, while municipal spokesman Andre N. Skjelstad wants to have around 40 state-run workplaces moved to Bergen.
– I think it’s a rather tacky political argument to make this a case between Oslo urbanists and those who want to decentralize. That’s not what this is about, Grepstad says. He claims Bergen will be one of the losers if the council is moved to the city.
Bergen has more than enough on their plate
– Bergen has more than enough to get a grip on its language collections. They are entirely dependent on the Language Council being operational all the time, says Grepstad. He points to that from 2016 onwards the language collections – a comprehensive documentation of the Norwegian language – were moved from the University of Oslo to the University of Bergen.
– A non-operational language council will weaken the work with these collections and the necessary research basis, says Grepstad.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
