No one is certain when new passports and ID cards will arrive

The national ID card Hospital employeeSample Norwegian ID card - not yet issued. Photo : Politiet

New passports and national ID cards should prevent abuse and increase security. After several years of delay, the Ministry of Justice suggested that they may be issued by 2020. But nobody will guarantee anything.

 

The first proposal for national ID cards already arrived in 2007, and in the draft state budget a few years later, an optimistic government calculated with the fee income from the card. However, the project was expanded, and became more complicated. A number of launch dates have been broken, as late as April the 1st this year.

The new ID card will contain the same information as a passport and should,in principle, be able to replace the passport when travelling within the Schengen area.

No guarantees

“It’s definitely time to get them in place, and it’s all about security and quality,” stated Secretary of State, Thor Kleppen Sættem of Høyre (H) at the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Affairs.

But it won’t happen this year, as previously promised. According to correspondence between the ministries, there had been plans to get them out next year.

Will they be issued in 2019?

“I dare not guarantee any time.’’ It is true that there have been different times mooted
in 2019, but Sættem has always been subject to some reservations.

‘’It seems that it will not be 2019. It may be 2020? I’m kidding, 2020,” he said.

Self-criticism

Sættem admitted that development work had not been good enough.

“I’m not happy with the supplier’s work, but I’m also not happy with the way the police and the ministry of justice have handled the case,” he said.

At the same time, he argued that all the players have recently spent a lot of resources on getting the project on track.

Professional Director, Atle Roll-Matthisen of the Police Directorate agrees with the self-criticism.

‘’The police are the owner of this project. We have a big responsibility and there is no doubt that we are not happy with our own efforts,” he said.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today