Parliament says no to scrapping the au pair scheme

The Center Party, together with the government parties, intervened to keep the au pair scheme. It both surprises and disappoints the Labor Party.

– “The fact that the Right is committed to maintaining a scheme that guarantees the economic elite cheap domestic help from abroad does not surprise me. But why is the Center Party running the West Edge Fifth errand? I am both disappointed and surprised,” says Masud Gharahkhani (Ap) to Dagbladet, who first mentioned the case.

This summer, SV submitted a proposal to liquidate the au pair scheme after several issues regarding the utilization of au pairs. On Thursday, the recommendation came from the municipal and administrative committee at Parliament. There the proposal is only supported by the Labor Party, while the Center Party will agree with the government parties to keep the scheme.

Sps Heidi Greni tells the newspaper that the au pair scheme is and will continue to be a cultural exchange scheme, not cheap labor.

– ‘Therefore, we also promote the requirement that there be minor children in the host family. Picking up and supervising children are tasks that can be combined with language courses. They should not be maids,’ Greni tells Dagbladet.

In 2015, however, Sp also went in to scrap the scheme and rather give the au pairs status as guest workers.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today