Prime minister says minister could consult external lawyer

Prime Minister Beinir Johannesen says it was acceptable for Jacob Vestergaard to ask an external lawyer whether he could issue service orders to Búnaðarstovan, KVF reports. The administration had said the orders were not lawful, while the lawyer concluded that they were.

Johannesen was responding to a question from Member of the Løgting Liljan Weihe about the prime minister’s duty to oversee government ministers.

Weihe asked whether Johannesen considered it acceptable for Vestergaard to publicly say he was prepared to issue the same service orders again, even though the administration had reached a detailed assessment that they were unlawful.

Legal experts disagree on whether Vestergaard had sufficient authority to issue the orders.

Ministers have the highest authority and responsibility for the areas assigned to them by the prime minister, Johannesen said. Ministers therefore decide which legal advice they use.

The prime minister’s oversight of ministers is general, he said. In this case, there was no clear breach of the law because the minister questioned the administration’s interpretation and consulted a lawyer who disagreed with it and considered the orders lawful.

If the prime minister intervened in such assessments, he would effectively become an appeals authority for all decisions made by ministers. That was not the intention of the Government Act, Johannesen said.