Monica Molvær (H) repeatedly quotes Aasen as believing that Nynorsk should not be forced on others. Tuesday’s debate was no exception. Geir Ove Leite (Ap) also put forward a quote that he thought fit the language debate: “Soon to fall – later to stand up”.

Hans Kjetil Knutsen (Ålesundlista) does not have a quote in stock, but he is happy that soon there will be someone else who can grace him with the title of “the largest city of Nynorsk in the world”. And the position can also fulfill election promises.

It was a nearly unanimous leadership and adopted linguistic neutrality. Only SV’s Anders Lindbeck voted against.

Geir Ove Leite also does not want to admit that the Labor Party once stated in its program that Ålesund should become a municipality of New Norway.

– We only stick to the agreement of intent between the five merging municipalities. “When the Haram was no longer in effect, we thought it was natural for us to be neutral in language,” Leite said. He also had a number of additional points to the city director’s proposal, but they were rejected.

The city council will make the final decision, but there are many indications that the council’s decision will stand. In practice, this means that the municipality must be neutral in language use so that employees can use Nynorsk and Bokmål optionally. The city government also had to withdraw from the National Association of the city of Nynorsk. This means you can also save some kroner.