The Green Capital of Europe 2019 is an award awarded by the European Commission of the capital of Norway - Oslo. The City Council has allocated NOK 118 million to organize a celebration to mark the event. However, such high costs have been criticized by the Høyre party.
2019 European Green Capital - Oslo
The 2019 European Green Capital was chosen by the European Commission in 2017. 14 European cities sought this name, including the Polish city of Wrocław, which reached the finals. The applications were assessed according to twelve indicators, incl. contribution to the fight against global warming, management of urban transport and green spaces, noise reduction, sustainable employment, innovative ecological solutions and wastewater treatment. The capital of Norway turned out to be the best in eight categories and was unanimously honored with the award.
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"Crazy Spending of Money"
Next year's Oslo budget will allocate NOK 118 to organize the celebration of this award. However, the Norwegian party of Høyre does not like the amount of the costs. Activists of this organization described the allocated amount as "crazy spending". The budget is defended by the Chairman of the Oslo City Council, Raymond Johansen from the Labor Party. He claims that the allocated amount will be spent only on commitments resulting from the will to involve the entire local community in the celebration of the award of the "European Green Capital 2019". He is also surprised by the criticism from Høyre. Mainly due to the fact that during the government of the party's politicians in Oslo, they themselves twice applied for the title, which always ended in a fiasco.
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Not only Høyre criticizes
After the Dagsavisen newspaper revealed that NOK 8 million to NOK 9 million would be earmarked for festivities and events, more political options in the City Council joined the group of critics. Rødt's Eivor Evenrud says there are many other needs in the city, including decaying playgrounds. Therefore, in his opinion, the sense of organizing such a grand celebration is not fully justified, as other goals of social policy in the capital will suffer.
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Doubts about the cost estimate
Høyre politicians criticize the budget allocated to the event mainly due to the unreasonable estimation of the costs included in the cost estimate. According to Øystein Sundelin, sitting on the finance committee, the proposed level of settlement prices is completely incomprehensible.
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2019 European Green Capital - an investment?
However, the President of the City Council has a different opinion. During the debate in the city hall, he stated that the city of Oslo must organize a popular and professional celebration. For this purpose, schools should be involved and this year should be used to conduct, inter alia, campaigns against the abuse of plastic. It is also a good time to popularize the program on improving air quality. Raymund Johansen is also convinced that if all undertaken activities raise the level of environmental awareness of the society, then all organized events and festivals will be a good investment.
