- One thing at the time. We have now put in place the delimitation agreement for the Barents Sea, says Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg asked by BarentsObserver on why the government didn’t provided a single krone in its revised state budget to meet the border boom traffic.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Minister and Chief of staff at the Prime Minister’s Office Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen interviewd by BarentsObserver in Kirkenes. Photo: Jonas Karlsbakk
When you visited Storskog border station in June 2007, you told reporters that the border station in the near future will be open from 6 in the morning till 23 in the evening. That is four years ago?
- Again, one thing at the time, but we are very aware of the situation at Storskog. This is something we are working with. Then we will see if we can afford it, says Stoltenberg.
In your press-release today concerning the delimitation agreement, you say it is now important to build bridge to Russia. Isn’t Storskog the most important bridge for people-to-people cooperation between Norway and Russia?
- Yes, and we are very aware of the situation. Many people say that to us. We will look into the situation, the Prime Minsiter says to BarentsObserver while eating his piece of the pie celebrating the maritime delimitation agreement at the central square in the border town of Kirkenes on Wednesday.
Chief of Staff at the Office of the Prime Minister, Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen adds that the Government is fully aware of the suggested urgent improvements to increase the capacity at Storskog. In March this year, a working group headed by former Chief of Police in Eastern Finnmark presented a long list of recommendations for Storskog to be implemented starting this spring.
More passport control windows, more staff, new lanes for vehicles on both in-going and out-going traffic are some of the urgent needs the police was hoping to implement this spring at a cost of 23 million NOK (€2.92 million). But, with no extra funding, the chaotic queues will contine in peak hours.
- The ministries in charge of this process, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are now looking into the suggestions. We have received the report from the police regarding the urgent needs, says Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen.
Will the government provide any kind of funding to Storskog border-crossing point in next year’s state budget?
- I can’t promise any funding in the 2012 state budget, says Schjøtt-Pedersen, again underlining that he and the Prime Minister are very aware of the capacity problems at Storskog.
The number of border crossings increased to more than 140,000 last year. For the first four months this year, the increase boosted with another 43 percent compared with the same period last year. In May, the traffic increased even more when 16,503 border crossings were counted, according to the statistics published by the police. That is up 52 percent compared with May 2010 and is the highest number ever counted in a one-month period.
Norway and Russia last year signed an agreement on visa-free travel for residents in a 30 kilometre zone on both sides of the border. Visa-free border crossings was originally supposed to be implemented from late 2011 or the start of 2012. BarentsObserver has not got any answer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the possibilities to implement visa-free travel according to the original time-schedule.
