On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Sami Parliament’s elected politicians gather for the last plenum of the year and the penultimate before the election in May next year.
The plenum has also been shortened from three to two days, and that because of the Sami Parliament’s strained finances.
– The board works very hard to get a budget in balance, says board chairman Håkan Jonsson, who expects a heated debate about the budget in particular.
Hope to get work started with the parliamentary committee
Håkan Jonsson also hopes that the work with the parliamentary committee that the plenum decided would begin its work in May will get under way.
The parliamentary committee’s task is to improve the Sami Parliament’s work and to produce steering documents that are adapted to the activities.
– The opposition chose not to appoint any members at the plenum in May, but we hope and believe that members will be appointed in December, says Jonsson and continues:
– This work should hopefully be completed by the beginning of 2025.
“The only place we can present our politics”
The opposition is critical of the fact that the plenum has been shortened and would have liked the board to have control over the finances to avoid ending up in this situation.
– Plenum is the only place where we have the opportunity to discuss and present our policy. It is careless of the board not to keep track of the costs, says Marianne Gråik, the Samiland Party.
She sees three important points that the board is missing in its report, which she will address.
– The development of Giellagáldu, what is happening there? Then also the news that the board has stepped in and changed the delegation order for the Language Centre. Even the Food Strategy, the board seems to have lost sight of it completely, says Marianne Gråik.
Critical of Jonsson’s statement
Recently, the government announced that it intends to disband the Reindeer Committee and appoint a new investigation into the Reindeer Husbandry Act.
– To what degree have the board and Håkan Jonsson been involved in that decision, says Marianne Gråik.
She is above all critical of Håkan Jonsson’s statement that he welcomes a new committee.
– A very strange stance by him without having seen any directives, says Marianne Gråik.