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Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Find out what’s going on in Norway on Friday with The Local’s short roundup of important news. 

Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Oslo Operahus. Photo by Arvid Malde on Unsplash

Free trade agreement between Norway and the UK expected to be announced

A post-Brexit free trade agreement will be announced between the UK and Norway, state broadcaster NRK have reported. 

Negotiations between the two countries have been ongoing since last summer, and there had been a deadline of June 18th to agree on a deal. 

According to the broadcaster, the arrangement would see Norway have greater access to sell its seafood in the UK, while the UK would have better access to sell agricultural products like cheese. 

READ ALSO: Norway fails to agree fishing quota deal with United Kingdom 

We will have all the details covered in full when the agreement is announced. 

Hundreds evacuated and firefighters injured in forest fire 

Around 500 people have been evacuated, and several firefighters have received minor injuries fighting a large forest fire in Sotra, just west of Bergen. 

The fire broke out on Thursday morning, and firefighters at the scene said on Friday that the blaze was still not fully under control. 

Around 150 fire crews from ten fire stations were working to fight the flames. 

The fire has claimed at least two houses. A total of ten people have been treated for injuries 

Those that were evacuated have been moved to a campsite.

Government press conference

There will be a government press conference on the coronavirus situation this afternoon. 

Minister of Health Bent Høie and Minister of Justice Monica Mæland will be at the conference. Espen Nakstad and Line Vold, will also be in attendance.

We will cover all the details for you in an article later.

Quarantine hotels to continue until after the summer 

Quarantine hotels will likely remain in place until after the summer, according to the Health Director at the Norwegian Directorate of Health, Bjørn Guldvog. 

“I think it is right that some will still need quarantine hotels over the summer. And maybe after that too, for travellers from certain areas,” he told Norwegian radio station P4

There have been a few significant changes to the quarantine hotel rules recently, with travellers from certain countries now being exempt from entering the hotels and those who have received their vaccine in Norway able to quarantine at home instead also

However, Guldvog believes the scheme will remain in place for the foreseeable future due to the risk of new variants. 

In the government’s revised budget for 2021, it was revealed that funding for the hotels would continue until November at least. 

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What Norway’s revised budget means for you 

289 new Covid-19 infections

On Thursday, 289 coronavirus cases were registered in Norway, a decrease of 35 on the seven-day average. 

In Oslo, 93 cases of infection were recorded, 24 more than the seven-day average of 69. 

The R-number or reproduction rate in Norway is currently 1.0. This means that every ten people that are infected will, on average, only infect another ten people, indicating that the infection level is stable.

Number of reported Covid cases. Source: NIPH

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BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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