Norwegian municipalities may lose the right to introduce local begging bans

This autumn, the Socialist Left Party (SV) will put forward a proposal to remove the municipalities’ ability to have local begging bans.

Bjørnafjorden in Vestland is now the only municipality in the country that has a ban on begging, the newspaper Bergens Tidende writes.

The Center Party (SP), the Progress Party (FRP), and the Conservative Party (H) changed the law in 2016 so that the municipalities had the opportunity to introduce local begging bans. Now, SP may be about to change its position. SP’s Iver B. Prestbakmo in the Justice Committee says the party is “open-minded” to SV’s proposal.

“We will take this into consideration when it comes, without coming to a conclusion now,” he told the newspaper.

Prestbakmo emphasized that one dimension of this case concerns local self-government. The Conservatives, on the other hand, have no intention of turning around in this matter:

“This is something the municipalities and the respective residents must decide for themselves,” justice policy spokesperson Sveinung Stensland wrote in an e-mail.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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