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Yesterday, the Storting dealt with new rules regarding who can be elected to the Nobel Committee.
The battlefield around Carl I. Hagen last year has led to several changes. Subsequently, delegates and deputies, ambassadors and other persons occupying positions of responsibility in government agencies or leaders of international organizations of which States are members can not be elected. In other words, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, would not have been chosen today.
It makes sense. Jagland has a dual role that can be problematic for both the Committee and the Council of Europe. For example, it may be difficult to award the Peace Prize, which will create problems for the work of the Council.
Among other things, the regulatory changes should increase the distance from the Norwegian authorities. SV also proposed removing the king from the front row at the awards ceremony. This is to reduce the impression that this is a prize from official Norway.
It is very unlikely that it will help anything special. All the time the monarch will not have real power, he will be perceived as a symbol of Norway as a country more than a representative of the interests of Norwegian foreign policy. And the paradox is that it is desirable that the outside world connects the price of Nobel peace to Norway as a nation. It is a demanding balance that, at the same time, is not perceived as an instrument by the Norwegian authorities.
It is also natural that the king is clearly present if you wish to signal that the prize has a certain status. Prestige is after all the main reason why the price is important. Then the king can not be kidnapped.
If the goal is to widen the distance to the political environment, however, it is more problematic to choose former senior politicians within the committee. Despite years of debate, this practice continues.
Carl I. Hagen had not only been nominated by the Progress Party last year before being blocked and the party instead deserves researcher Asle Toje.
The right was elected alternate member of Kristin Clemet and Anne Enger became a permanent member as a result of a center party nomination. Hagen, Clemet and Enger are both closely linked to the politics of Norwegian parties.
It seems very important that the parties have the opportunity to be heard by the committee: even a proposal from the SV on quarantine after being a politician or parliamentarian was heard.
As long as some parliamentary parties continue to bring Nobel Committee members with successful political careers, it will be of little use to move the king to the back of the room.
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