– It is good that Trine Skei Grande is taking Siv Jensen on a study trip to Canada. But they will not learn anything there other than what others have known for a long time, Eirin Sund tells Avisenes Nyhetsbyrå (ANB).

According to VG, Venstre and Frp have reached a climate agreement and will take a closer look at how the green shift has been achieved in Canada.

– Pleasant development

Eirin Sund finds it gratifying that Siv Jensen and her vice-president Per Sandberg have initiated a complete turnaround in climate policy.

– The fact that they are now taking into account what everyone has achieved is gratifying. The Liberals are genuinely concerned about the climate. That they are taking on the task of raising and teaching the Frp is good. But they could also come to us. Then they would have had a better climate policy than the government, says Eirin Sund.

The parliamentary leader of the Centre Party, Marit Arnstad, is much more sceptical about the project.

Risk project

– The left and the FRP together form a dangerous combination. We then get both fees and a tax policy that does not discriminate between geographical or social distribution, explains Marit Arnstad.

She cites both the fees on plastic bags, which have been waived, and the fees on airline seats as bad experiences resulting from such cooperation.

– What is needed to reduce climate emissions is an opportunity to make good choices and technological development. Not tax burdens, Marit Arnstad tells ANB.

Sund and Arnstad react to the timing of the study trip of the two party leaders.

– We have just had a major tax reform that was widely accepted. Then suddenly, two of the parties alone will go to Canada to shake things up again, comments the PS politician.

– It’s a bit typical of the way government works. But there’s nothing particularly sensational about this trip either. There’s nothing in Canada that no one has experienced before, says Eirin Sund.

Useful for learning

– It is useful to learn from those who have experience in this field, says State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Jørgen Næsje (Frp) to ANB.

– In the budget agreement, the collaborating parties agreed that in the state budget for 2017, a proposal for a green tax transition would be presented as part of the follow-up to the recommendation of the Green Taxation Committee. The parliamentary representatives of Ap and Sp should therefore not be surprised that we are currently working on this, says Næsje.

– I think it is useful to learn from those who have experience of this before presenting proposals in the state budget, as the Storting has asked the government to do, he adds.

– The PRF will change taxes and fees so that it pays to choose environmentally friendly products without it becoming an additional tax burden for most people. We believe the tax burden is already high enough, says the Secretary of State. (NB)

It is a good thing that the Liberal Party is taking on the task of promoting and teaching the PRF.

Eirin Sund, parliamentary representative (Ap)