Merging northern Norway
One of the leading Labour Party politician in northern Norway calls for the forced merging of municipalities in the region.
Ms Pia Svensgaard, County Council leader in the Troms County, believes that the many small municipalities in northern Norway will be unable to maintain a sufficient service offer for their populations unless they merge into bigger units. -It is an illusion that small communities with shrinking populations are capable of attracting businesses and have a fully-fledged service offer, she says to Norwegian broadcaster NRK. -A municipality should have a minimum of 10,000 inhabitants, she maintains. She believes the municipalities should be forced to merge. Today, 15 of the 25 municipalities in Troms County has less than 3000 inhabitants.
