FORNEBU (Dagbladet): The MDG profiles itself as the Norwegian party that cares the most about the environment. All exploration must be stopped, emissions stopped and extraction stopped.

But in Europe’s extreme situation with the war in Ukraine, the pipeline has got a different sound.

Party leader Une Bastholm believes that Norway must now pump all the gas we can handle.

– Right to sell more

– Norway must now contribute as a stable gas supplier in the short term, Bastholm told Dagbladet.

– Do you think it’s true that we produce and sell more gas to Europe now?

– Yes, where we have gas reserves that we have developed, we may have higher production this year and next year, Bastholm said.

– There is a difference between two, three years and ten years and twenty years, added the MDG leader.

In a national meeting address on Friday, Bastholm joked that Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum was close to nominating Norway for the peace prize because of oil production.

Vedum recently visited the Sverdrup field, where he learned that oil and gas are Norway’s most important contributions to peace.

Although Bastholm now considers selling as much Norwegian gas to Europe as possible, he draws a firm line: Norway must stop looking for more oil and gas.

– It is equally important that we do not invest more oil and gas now, instead of renewable energy. Europe is pretty clear now that they don’t want oil and gas from the Barents Sea.

2021: Not for secrecy. 2022: Yes to confidentiality

Open to dropping ultimatums

In last fall’s parliamentary elections, the ultimatum was much talked about: The MDGs want to stop all new oil exploration in favor of the government.

The party’s own crash commission after this fall’s election crisis stated that the strategy was wrong.

The ultimatum “took all oxygen in the room” according to the report, written by deputy chief Arild Hermstad. He also stated that the demands made parties marginalized in matters of government cooperation.

– Do you still want to issue an ultimatum about exploration?

– The evaluation is not really saying that setting the ultimatum is wrong, but the focus is very much on our oil policy. But whether we will set it as a key requirement or an absolute requirement next time, we haven’t started discussing yet, said the MDG leader.

– That tolerance limit will remain, because we don’t think we can be a true green party today and be part of the government, but be part of the opening of a new field, Bastholm added.

– It’s necessary

warn

Nature and Youth are not impressed by the MDG line on Norwegian gas sales. Leader Gina Gylver said she was surprised:

– No, it’s the wrong focus. It would be very wrong to use this war to produce more fossil energy and increase emissions.

As an MDG leader, Gylver is concerned that war should not lead to more exploration and development of new fields.

– The war in Ukraine has been used as an argument for expanding more oil and gas production. This is backwards and very provocative. That’s an overly simplistic argument, Gylver said.

He still warns the MDGs to put too much focus on more Norwegian gas sales.

– Norway is already fully producing gas. Even more dangerous is how this argument easily slips into the fact that Norway must continue to develop more oil and gas. There’s no room for that if we’re going to hit the 1.5-degree goal, Gylver said.