The Norwegian centre-periphery dispute

A regional oil and gas expert now says northern Norway is tired of being exploited by the south and that it from now on might get harder to get regional support for the development of regional hydrocarbon resources. Meanwhile, the regional bishop says the North is being ridiculed and humiliated.

No Arctic Olympics

The town of Tromsø has over the last couple of years prepared its bid for the first ever Olympic games in the Arctic. The plans have won support from prominent government ministers, who have seen the games as part of Norway’s increasing focus on the Arctic and High North.

However, the whole project wrecked this Monday when the Norwegian Sport Confederation withdrew its support for the games, arguing that they would become too expensive. The negative decision came after an ad-hoc expert committee last week announced that the price for the games would be up to 19 billion NOK (2,3 billion EUR), about twice as much as previously budgeted.

Northern resources

The Sport Confederation’s withdrawal of its support and the subsequent negative decision from government has triggered harsh reactions from a wide range of people not only from Tromsø, but from major parts of northern Norway.

Johan Petter Barlindhaug, a regional businessman and oil and gas expert, says to NRK that the turning down of the project could alter the region’s attitudes towards the development of regional natural resources. He does not exclude that the northerners for example will get negative towards the opening new regional oil fields unless they get something real in return.

-We see that the demand for oil and fish is increasing and that the resources we that have most of here in the north are the ones which will be the biggest contributions to the Norwegian economy, Mr. Barlindhaug says

-One thing is sure, the north and the south in this country are two quite different things, he underlines.

Arctic anger

The businessman is supported by the clergy. Bishop of the diocese of North Halogaland, Per Oskar Kjølaas, says to newspaper Nordlys that northern Norway in the Olympic process has experienced nothing less than “ridicule and humiliation” and that “big wounds in the conscious of the people” have come to the surface.

-This should have been a visionary and uniting project for the region – a visible sign of Norway’s investments in the region and the High North. Instead we get the ridicule and humiliation of northern Norway, he underlines, adding that “this only leads to rage and unprecedented protests”.

Also regional politicians feel humiliated. Leader of the regional Labour Party, Bjørn Inge Mo says northern Norway is being badly treated, and that the negative decision on the Olympic Games seems like not fair play from Oslo.

-The Olympics would have been a chance to show that northern Norway is a fully-fledged part of the country, he argues to NRK.

The politician adds that the northern parts of the country in too many cases are being treated unfair. –Higher demands are placed on us than on other parts of the country, he says.

Promising region

In any country with big distances between the centre and the regions, conflicts of interests are bound to appear. In Norway, a significant part of Norway’s raw material basis is located in the north. With the growing interest in the hydrocarbons of the Barents Sea, the economic importance of the region could increase considerably.

Norway has always been torn between regions different regions with different interests, not only between north and south, but also between east and west.

The highlighting of regional interests is vital for northern Norway in the years to come. The region is predicted a bright future as Arctic shipping and hydrocarbon development pick pace. Even without the Olympics, northern Norway will eventually prevail.