Rubber-Stamping

Here in the Kingdom of Norway, we were presented our very own “stimulus package” this Monday.

There was of course something wrong with it, but most pundits don't have a clue about what's wrong with it. We'll leave that here, however.

What we are concerned with here is procedure. The public and the media had known for quite some time that it would be presented on January 26. There was, however, no official package proposal before Monday morning. There was an extraordinary meeting of the Council of State at the Royal Palace of Oslo, where the package was approved as an official proposal.

There is apparently little time for questions in the process. The proposal is presented for His Majesty for rubber-stamping, and this rubber-stamping is apparently not only taken for granted, but there is no room for questioning that may delay the process. Of course, His Majesty could have called the Prime Minister or the Treasury Secretary to the Royal Palace, as did happen with a Church matter last year. However, this concept of formally approving a parliamentary proposal from His Majesty just minutes before it is due to be presented to the Parliament is troublesome.