There is an interesting discussion about Switzerland in the debate column in Aftenposten. Labor’s Agnes Nærland Viljugrein called Switzerland a “tax haven” and the “worst thing” when it comes to “financial secrecy and the facilitation of tax evasion”. Advisor at Civita Eirik Løkke reiterated that Switzerland is “one of the best countries to live in”, and warned that in 2024 the country will top the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI). Løkke was surprised that there weren’t “more people on the left” who were “more interested in investigating.” Why Switzerland scores very high on the international rankings, and can we learn anything from them?”

But the Norwegian left is keen to learn from Switzerland. The Government of Støre has started an EEA investigation – a “committee to investigate experiences with EEA agreements”. Public investigations are often commissioned to investigate experiences from other countries. Traditionally, Norwegian public investigations have paid close attention to experiences from other Nordic countries, and it is conceivable that EEA investigations would also be asked to look at what experiences, for example, Sweden and Finland had when they chose another EU connection over Norway. in 1995.

However, the government-appointed committee was not asked to look at the experiences of the Nordic countries. Instead, the committee will provide “an assessment of the experience that the UK, Switzerland and Canada have from their agreement-based cooperation with the EU”. I don’t know what Viljugrein thinks about the interests of the Støre government in Switzerland. Løkke, for his part, can look forward to a public inquiry in which Switzerland is given a running berth.

Catherine Holst, Oslo