On September 12, there will be a parliamentary election in Norway. It looks to become one of the more interesting elections in recent history. Two three-party coalitions have formed, one on each side of the political axis. The debate has been pretty intense, with the level of personal attacks and dirt-digging reaching levels never seen before in Norway. The biggest issues have been education, health care, spending oil money, immigration, and taxes.

Concurrently, there are intense negotiations at the United Nations Headquarters ahead of the World Summit that will take place from September 14th to the 16th. After John Bolton sneaked into the position as US Ambassador to the UN, the US position has drastically changed on several issues. Most importantly, he has suggested to remove all references to the Millennium Development Goals from the outcome document of the summit.

So, what are the connections between these two events taking place next week? None, if we were to believe the media and the issues Norwegians reportedly are concerned with. But, considering Norway's historically strong support of the UN and Norway's strong support of the MDGs, the negotiations taking place at the UN is something that every Norwegian should be aware of.

The future of the UN as a global leader of development is at stake, as is the lives of millions of people who will benefit tremendiously if the MDGs are achieved. The world needs a real commitment from world leaders at the Summit to achieve the MDGs and to commit the resources required to achieve them. If we fail to meet the MDGs, people will still go hungry, children will still not get the education they need, women and girls will still be discriminated, killer diseases will still take lives, and the environment will suffer, even after 2015!

Yet in Norway, the debate rages over whether the government can afford to give each student a free daily hot school meal, in addition to free books and tuition. Some parties argue that we should spend some of the 200 billion dollars currently in the Petroleum Fund today, while other parties argue we should save for coming generations. Many people are outraged that senior citizens who go to the free nursing homes when they retire, do not get their own private room. Students complain that the grant part of the student financing package is too small, forcing them into part-time and summer jobs.

I know these issues are real for many people, but I simply cannot take them 100% seriously when I know how people fight for their simple existence around the world. Norway, on top of the UNDP Human Development Report for the fifth year in a row, is a wonderful place to live and grow up. We really don't have much to complain about.

Yet, the "missing" MDGs and UN reform is not even close to being an issue in the Norwegian election. In fact, to find out where the different parties stand on these issues I had to dig deep into their websites, and even then it was obvious that they were not of much concern. Millions of lives are at stake, and life-altering decisions will be made at the UN next week, but we are more concerned with our own welfare.

I know many Norwegians prefer to stay out of international issues and "keep to ourselves", but we simply cannot afford to just give our share of development aid and then be happy about it. The whole world needs to come together to achieve the MDGs, and we need to act as global citizens, not national citizens. If there was a party that articulated these issues clearly, it'd have my vote in a heartbeat. Now I'm still not sure. Hmmm, free schoolmeal vs. private rooms for senior citizens - tough choice...

PS! This one's for you, Franziska...