According to Aftenposten’s report, Støre has been criticized for not showing a clear stance on how many refugees Norway would accept from Syria. Now he makes a clear and controversial commitment about the issue:

– Norway should take ten thousand Syrian refugees – 5,000 this year and 5,000 next year, he said in his speech during the party convention.

Støre estimates the cost of this promise would be 800-900 million in 2015 and in excess of one billion NOK in 2016.

Immigration policy spokesman of Progress Party (FrP) Mazyar Keshvari thinks Støre’s promise is populism of the worst kind.

– Labor Party did not lift a finger for Syrian refugees when they were in the coalition government in 2013, says Keshvari to Aftenposten.

He also notes that Norway does not have the capacity to accommodate 10000 Syrian refugees.