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Home , Erna Solberg, Jon Georg Dale, Ola Elvestuen, Siv Jensen, Sylvi Listhaug, Trine Skei Grande

C O U N T R Y R E PORT Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.

NORWAY ELISABETH BAUER KAI GLÄSER JONATHAN TAPPE to form a new govern- January 2018 ment www.kas.de/nordische Conservatives wrap up deal with two partners to form a new governing coalition

After the went to the polls in ments to their electorate. , the October 2017 the governing conservative Progressive’s leader confirmed that she party Høyre headed by Prime Minister Er- would work to extend Norway’s staunch na Solberg, gathered support to form a stance on immigration policy by further im- new coalition with the right-leaning popu- peding family reunifications, the acquisition list (Fremskrittpartiet) and of the Norwegian citizenship, and introduc- the liberal Venstre party. ing a Burqa-Ban. In contrast, of the pushed for oil Preliminary talks in December had paved drilling bans, citing unforeseeable environ- the way for coalition talks starting on Janu- mental concerns. Furthermore, the party ary 2nd. After twelve days of “fruitful dis- raised the possibility of introducing an emis- cussions” according to the incumbent Prime sion trading scheme. was sat- Minister, the parties managed to merge the isfied with the result pledging to make Nor- positions and agree to form a minority gov- way the world’s most livable country. The ernment. Already during the previous legis- Prime Minister to-be set out to reduce un- lative period the Christian democrats were employment and poverty and foster immi- reluctant to join a coalition with the right- grant’s integration into the Norwegian so- leaning Fremskrittspartiet. However, despite ciety. After a precipitous drop in oil prices, being dependent on the support of the Norway’s finances in recent years have Christian Democrats, a complicated. Yet a surge in its price has re- has proven to be a stable solution through- vived economic growth according to recent out Norway’s history. forecasts.

The election result had indicated a win for Three key positions in the administrations the conservative camp, and weakened the to be held by women social democrats. Although the Arbeiderpar- tiet finished first, they suffered heavy losses Once the coalition talks were concluded, the in their left wing, rendering them unable to new government’s competences were divid- form a government under their leadership. ed among the parties. While the conserva- Consequently, for the first time in 30 years, tive party continues to name the Prime Min- a conservative Prime Minister was able to ister it will also control the Ministry for De- defend her position in office following an fence and Foreign Affairs among six other election. ministries. The Progress Party will fill seven government posts including the Ministry for All parties present political gains to their Finance, Justice, and Immigration and electorate Home Affairs. Lastly, the Liberals will con- trol three ministries comprising the climate During the coalition talks both the Progres- and environmental department. Overall, the sive and Liberal parties were able to place government adheres to the rule of balancing key points of their political agenda in the female and male ministers, by employing agreement to fulfill the party’s commit- nine women and ten men in the cabinet

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Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. considering three women being placed at key positions namely as the Prime Minister, NORWAY the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Minis- ELISABETH BAUER try of Finance. Four days after concluding KAI GLÄSER the talks King Harald V. officially appointed JONATHAN TAPPE the government, allowing them to start their work four months after the election. January 2018 The reshuffle of some cabinet ministers in- dicates the government’s focus on interna- www.kas.de/nordische tional security and the importance of Euro- pean and Trans-Atlantic Relations. Although previous experiences confirm the stability of minority governments in Norway, it remains to be seen in how far the coalition’s new partner will impact the new government.

Solberg II Administration in detail:

Erna Solberg (Høyre), Prime Minister; Siv Jensen (Fremskrittspartiet), Minister of Fi- nance; Trine Skei Grande (Venstre), Min- ister of Culture and Church Affairs; (Høyre), Minister of Migration and Integration; Ketil Solvik-Olsen (Fremskrittspartiet), Minister of Transport and Communications; Monica Mæland (Høyre), Minister of Local Government and Modernisation; Bent Høie (Høyre), Minister of Health and Care Services; Ine Eriksen Søreide (Høyre), Minister of Foreign Af- fairs; (Fremskrittspartiet), Minister of Justice, Public Security and Im- migration; Torbjørn Røe Isaksen (Høyre), Minister of Trade and Industry; Per Sand- berg (Fremskrittspartiet), Minister of Fish- eries; (Høyre), Minister of Labour and Social Affairs; Linda Cathrine Hofstad Helleland (Høyre), Min- ister of Children, Equality and Social Inclu- sion; (Fremskrittspartiet), Minister of Agriculture; Frank Bakke- Jensen (Høyre), Minister of Defence; Terje Søviknes (Fremskrittspartiet), Minister of Petroleum and Energy; Åse Michaelsen (Fremskrittspartiet), Minister of Elderly and Public Health; (Venstre), Minister of Climate and the Environment; Nikolai Eivindssøn Astrup (Høyre), Minis- ter of International Development; Iselin Nybø (Venstre), Minister of Higher Educa- tion and Research.