On Wednesday 13 November, you can be one of those who are contacted via SMS or digipost about this. But there are only 66 of those who express their interest, who will be given a place in the Future Panel.
– This will be a national people’s panel for ordinary people, says Sofie Furu of the company SoCentral, which is part of the secretariat for the Future Panel.
To ensure a representative selection, a lottery will be held among those interested, based on age, gender, place of residence, education and what you voted for in the last general election.
For the good of all
If you are one of those who come through this eye of a needle, busy months await with many meetings and long discussions that will lead to concrete recommendations with the following as a starting point:
- Norway is one of the world’s richest countries. How can we use our wealth for the good of the world, ourselves and future generations?
- Which considerations and values should guide our choices?
- Which problems in the world does Norway have particularly good reasons to help solve?
- How should the Oil Fund be used now and in the future?
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– Important to discuss
– These are big questions that it is important to get as many people as possible to discuss, says Thina Saltvedt, who usually works with sustainability at Nordea.
– But today there are more young people than before who do not vote in elections. There are also several who feel frustrated at not being heard. So why not try something new, Saltvedt continues.
– A public panel is an interesting way to get more people to be heard. Such people’s panels have been successful in other countries. It will be very exciting to see if this will also work in Norway.
Saltvedt is now one of those who have been given a place in the so-called “Community Council”, which will have an advisory role in connection with the Future Panel’s work.
Others who have been given a place on the Society Council include Kristin Halvorsen – director of Cicero – Center for climate research, Leo Ajkic – presenter at NRK and the comedian and presenter Else Kåss Furuseth.
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– Develop democracy
The members of the Future Panel will also receive help from an expert group and a professional council, consisting of, among others, “a number of internationally recognized experts on deliberative democracy».
This is a form of democracy where decisions are made on the basis of a broad, public debate rather than voting alone.
– I hope this will be the method that expands and develops democracy in Norway and engages more young people to take part. Young people have a unique competence – by being young, says Jakob Øvensen Aanderaa, chairman of LNU.
The abbreviation LNU stands for the National Council for Norway’s Children and Youth Organizations, which is an umbrella organization for around 100 such organizations with a total of over 600,000 members across the country.
Fact-based debate
LNU is also one of the organizations referred to as the “commissioners” for the creation of the Future Panel.
The others are:
- WWF World Wide Fund for Nature.
- Save the Children.
- Caritas Norway.
- Church Aid.
- The future in our hands.
- Long-term – think tank for long-term policy.
They want to “create an inclusive and fact-based debate about Norway’s wealth” and “get the people’s input on their work in this area”. But these organizations shall not have any influence on the Future Panel’s work, until the 66 selected deliver their recommendations to them on 25 April next year.
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The 2025 parliamentary election
– The goal of the Future Panel is to increase knowledge in the population about Norway’s wealth, the challenges we face and Norway’s role in the world, says Sofie Furu in the Secretariat of the Future Panel.
At the same time, the clients who are behind the upcoming people’s panel are looking forward to the general election in 2025. They hope for “an inclusive public debate” about how Norway’s wealth should be managed, in the months before the people go to the polls.
There is also a third important goal with the work that is now being fully launched.
– It is to help strengthen democracy in Norway, says Furu.
A number of other countries have already adopted people’s panels in various contexts, and there are also examples where recommendations they have made in various cases have been followed.
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– Hope it will be successful
– In France, a people’s panel was set up with 150 participants after the Yellow Vests (a protest movement based on opposition to plans for increased fuel prices, journal note). It was a play by this people’s panel that led to the ban on domestic flights in France in less than two hours, says Thomas Berman in SoCentral, and head of the secretariat for the Future Panel.
So what can we expect from the Future Panel, when they have finished their discussions after receiving input and additional knowledge from various experts and speakers?
– The idea is that they should come up with recommendations that this group of people agree on, says Berman.
Thina Saltvedt is crossing her fingers.
– I hope it will be successful, she says of the Future Panel’s work.
At the same time, she points out what the 66 members of the people’s panel have to deal with.
– We are in a period where a lot is happening in the world. It is moving towards polarization and increased unrest. The election in the United States this week created extra unrest.
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