Jagland scolds UNE boss

Thorbjørn Jagland, president of Norway's Parliament, in turn doesn't think Sjeggestad should contact the politicians directly.
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Terje Sjeggestad, director of the Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board (UNE), doesn't take kindly to politicians criticizing the board's decisions, and he's let them know it.
PHOTO: CORNELIUS POPPE / SCANPIX.
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The president of Norway's Parliament, Thorbjørn Jagland, has rebuked the head of the country's Immigration Appeals Board (UNE), after the UNE boss himself scolded a few politicians for meddling in his affairs.

The quarreling hit the headlines earlier this week, after UNE director Terje Sjeggestad sent a letter to the head of the Liberal Party (Venstre), complaining that party deputy Olaf Thommessen was undermining UNE's work by vigorously criticizing it in the media.

UNE has been under pressure lately after it refused to retreat from its decision that a large group of Afghan refugees did not qualify for asylum in Norway, and should be sent back to Afghanistan.

Public sympathy for the Aghans' plight prompted several politicians from a variety of parties to react, and criticize the work of Sjeggestad's immigration appeals board.

It's since emerged that Thommessen isn't the only politician to spark complaints from Sjeggestad. Both Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa from the Center Party (Sp) and Ågot Valle from the Socialist Left (SV) have said that Sjeggestad has also scolded them after they criticized his work.

"Sjeggestad is a bureaucrat with a lot of power," Ingvild Vaggen Malvik of SV told newspaper Aftenposten. "But when he tries to gag a politician, then he's exceeding the limits of his power."

It appears the president of Norway's parliament agrees. Jagland, a former prime minister from the Labour Party, told Aftenposten Friday that it's "unacceptable" for a top bureaucrat to take direct contact with members of parliament as Sjeggestad has done.

Jagland worried that Sjeggestad may be endangering UNE's independent role as an evaluator of immigration decisions. He added that no one can rob a member of Parliament of his or her right to express an opinion.

Sjeggestad seemed to brush off Jagland's criticism, saying he had kept the cabinet ministers in charge of immigration affairs oriented.

He stressed that the Parliament itself established the immigration appeals board (Utlendingsnemnda) and "we must stay within the framework that the Parliament set for our operations."

Sjeggestad doesn't like it when individual politicians try to influence UNE's work or challenge its decisions, and he's determined to let them know it.

Erna Solberg, head of the Conservatives and a former cabinet minister in charge of immigration issues, supported Sjeggestad. "It's entirely suitable that UNE reports back to politicians who don't recognize the laws and rules that they themselves were part of passing," Solberg said.

Aftenposten's reporter
Thomas Spence

Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund/NTB