A Majority can resolve the problems around cash support

Hadia TajikHadia Tajik.Labor Party.Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

There is probably a majority in the Storting for relaxing the requirement that both parents must have five years residency to receive cash support.

The tightening was agreed towards the end of the previous parliamentary term. The goal was to better integrate immigrants and their children.

Now the Labour Party agrees that the rules need adjusting. Thus, a new majority can be formed together with the SV and the Center Party – which voted for KRF’s alternative proposal when the five-year requirement was passed on 12 June.

Unintentional
The deputy party leader and leader of  the Employment and Social committee Hadia Tajik, sent a letter to the Minister of Employment and Social Affairs Anniken Hauglie (H), on Monday, asking if the Minister “Will Consider Exceptions” to avoid what the party calls  “unintended consequences.”

“We are against the entire cash support system, which we believe is an obstacle to integration. So we voted for the five-year period when the amendment was being discussed before the summer.

But the findings that are now revealed were neither highlighted in the government’s documents nor in the debate. Therefore, we now think it is right that the government looks at this again, “said the Ap representative and Tajik’s committee colleague Lise Christoffersen to NTB.

The government saw it

The case Christoffersen points out is the case of Vanja Brox, which was discussed by NRK on Monday.

She was born and raised in Norway, is  a Norwegian citizen but married a foreign man who has lived in Norway since autumn 2012. He is in full employment and has got Norwegian citizenship in his sight. However, the five-year rule excludes him, thus her application for cash support has been rejected.

According to state secretary Kai Morten Terning at the Ministry of Children and Equality, the government was aware that the amendment could affect Norwegians, but the goal of better integration was emphasized more when the change was proposed.

Want an exception
The fact that Ap has discovered unintended effects is good news, says KrF representative Geir Jørgen Bekkevold.
– We proposed a limit of three years’ residency time for one of the parents combined with a requirement for Norwegian language learning, which SV and Sp voted for. If Ap also wants a change, we can probably get a new majority, says Bekkevold to NTB.

He says that KrF will in a short while decide whether the party should resume its original proposal or whether it is more appropriate to ask the government to alter the adopted legislative text and adjust where necessary.

According to Tajik’s letter to Hauglie, a majority can be reached if KrF chooses the second alternative.

– In families where one of the parents is Norwegian and at the same time being the one who is at home with the child, the argument for faster integration is not as relevant.

It should therefore be considered how exceptions can be made for such families, if both do not meet the criteria, she stated in her written question from Ap to Hauglie.

 

Source: NRK / Norway Today

————