Welcome to the Norwegian parliament - Stortinget
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The Standing CommitteesThis page provides information about the standing committees of the Storting. You will find links to some of the Storting's Norwegian pages.
THE WORK OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES Most of the business laid before the Storting and the Odelsting is first prepared by a committee. Each representative in the Storting serves on one of the twelve permanent committees. The committees (together with the party groups) are the forum in which the real decisions on most matters of business are made. After each Storting has constituted itself, it elects an Election Committee consisting of 37 members. The parties are proportionally represented as far as possible on this committee, and the geographic distribution of constituencies is also taken into account. The Election Committee decides the composition of the permanent (or standing) committees. Provisions concerning the composition and duties of the committees are laid down in the Storting's Rules of Procedure. Every effort is made to ensure that the parties are proportionally represented on the respective committees. The Lagting is represented in all committees. All the members of the Storting are distributed among the 13 standing committees. As soon as the committees have been appointed, each committee elects a chairman, a vice chairman and a secretary. In practice, these elections are decided in advance by negotiations among the party groups. The committees vary in size, normally between 11 and 20 members. Nearly all matters of business laid before the Storting and the Odelsting are first sent to a committee to be prepared. The rule of thumb for distribution of business is that each committee deals with matters originating in the ministry of the same or similar name as the committee. For each item of business sent to a committee, the committee elects a spokesman, who then assumes responsibility for presenting the matter to the committee, obtaining information and seeing the matter through the procedure in committee until the committee has adopted its final recommendation. The spokesman also formulates the recommendation in writing. The recommendation is submitted to the Storting, which is responsible for the final decision, or to the Odelsting, which, if it passes the measure, sends it to the Lagting. Most matters are concluded with a unanimous decision by the committee. Disagreement among the members may give rise to exhaustive discussions, and committees often split into two or more factions over specific issues. Each faction may elect its own spokesman, and if the committee is unable to reach agreement, the views of the minorities are included in the recommendation as dissenting views (or remarks). In the course of proceedings, a committee may call in representatives from ministries, organizations, or even private individuals, to hearings for the purpose of obtaining information. Organizations and individuals may also request to appear before a committee to present their views. Each committee has a permanent secretary employed by the Storting to assist representatives in performing the work of the committee. The recommendation of a committee generally determines the outcome of the measure in the Storting, as representatives normally follow the vote of their party in the committee. A measure which has received a majority vote in a committee will normally receive a majority vote in the Storting as well, though there is less assurance of the outcome if the proportional representation in the committee differs from that of the Storting. Approximately 1,000 matters are handled by the Storting every year.
THE ENLARGED FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE The Election Committee also appoints an Enlarged Committee on Foreign
Affairs, the duty of which is to discuss important foreign policy, trade
policy and national security policy issues. These discussions take place
before major decisions are taken by the Government. The business of this
committee is kept secret unless otherwise expressly provided.The Enlarged
Committee consists of the ordinary members of the |
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The labour market
and the working environment