Erna Solberg

Erna Solberg MP
21st Prime Minister of Norway
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 October 2013
Monarch	Harald V
Preceded by	Jens Stoltenberg
Leader of the Conservative Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 May 2004
Preceded by	Jan Petersen
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development
In office 19 October 2001 – 17 October 2005
Prime Minister	Kjell Magne Bondevik
Preceded by	Sylvia Brustad
Succeeded by	Åslaug Haga
Member of the Norwegian Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 October 1989
Constituency	Hordaland
Personal details
Born	Erna Solberg 24 February 1961 Bergen, Hordaland, Norway
Nationality	Norwegian
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Sindre Finnes
Children	Erik Ingrid
Parents	Asbjørn Solberg Inger Wenche Torgersen
Residence	Inkognitogata 18
Alma mater	University of Bergen
Religion	Church of Norway

Erna Solberg (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˌæːɳɑ ˈsuːlˈbærɡ]; born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician who has been Prime Minister of Norway since October 2013 and Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004.

Solberg has served as a member of the Storting since 1989 and served as Minister of Local Government and Regional Development in Bondevik's Second Cabinet from 2001 to 2005. In her term as minister, she oversaw the tightening of immigration policy and the preparation of a proposed reform of the administrative divisions of Norway.^[1] After the 2005 election, she chaired the Conservative Party parliamentary group until 2013. Solberg has emphasized the social and ideological basis of the Conservative policies, although the party also has become visibly more pragmatic.^[2]

After winning the September 2013 election, she became the second female Prime Minister of Norway, after Gro Harlem Brundtland.^[3] Solberg's Cabinet, often referred to informally as the "Blue-Blue Cabinet", is a two-party minority government consisting of the Conservative Party and Progress Party. The cabinet has established a formalized co-operation with the non-socialist Liberal Party and Christian Democratic Party in the Storting.^[4]

Family background and education

Solberg was born in Bergen in western Norway and grew up in the affluent Kalfaret neighbourhood. Her father, Asbjørn Solberg (1925–1989), worked as a consultant in the Bergen Sporvei and her mother, Inger Wenche Torgersen (1926–2016), was an office-worker. Solberg has two sisters, one older than her and one younger.^[5]

Solberg had some struggles at school and at the age 16 was diagnosed as suffering from dyslexia. She was, nevertheless, an active and talkative contributor in the classroom.^[6] In her final year as a high-school student in 1979, she was elected to the board of the School Student Union of Norway, and in the same year led the national charity event Operasjon Dagsverk, in which students collected money for Jamaica.

In 1986, she graduated with her cand.mag. degree in sociology, political science, statistics and economics from the University of Bergen. In her final year, she also led the Students' League of the Conservative Party in Bergen.

Since 1996 she has been married to Sindre Finnes, a businessman and former Conservative Party politician, with whom she has two children.^[7] The family has lived in both Bergen and Oslo.

Political career

Erna Solberg during a party congress in 2009.

Local government

Solberg was a deputy member of Bergen city council in the periods 1979–1983 and 1987–1989, the last period on the executive committee. She chaired local and municipal chapters of the Young Conservatives and the Conservative Party.

Parliamentarian

She was first elected to the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) from Hordaland in 1989 and has been re-elected on five occasions. She was also the leader of the national Conservative Women's Association, from 1994 to 1998.

Government Minister

From 2001 to 2005 Solberg served as the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development under Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. Her alleged tough policies in this department, including a firm stance on asylum policy, earned her the nickname "Jern-Erna" (Norwegian for "Iron Erna") in the media.^[8]

In fact, numbers show that the Bondevik government, of 2001–2005, actually let in thousands more asylum seekers than the subsequent centre-left Red-Green government, of 2005–2009.^[9]

In 2003, Solberg proposed introducing Islamic Sharia Councils in Norway after being informed of the existence of such councils in the United Kingdom,^[10][11] and, in 2004, said that she wished to increase immigration to Norway.^[12]

As Minister, Solberg instructed the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration to expel Mulla Krekar, being a danger to national security. Later, terrorism charges were filed against Krekar for a death threat he uttered in 2010 against Erna Solberg.

Party Leader

She served as deputy leader of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2004 and, in 2004, she became the party leader.

Prime Minister

Solberg became the presumptive head of government after winning the general election on 9 September 2013 and was appointed Prime Minister on 16 October 2013. Solberg is Norway's second female Prime Minister after Gro Harlem Brundtland.^[13]

In 2014 she participated at the Agriculture and Food meeting which was held by Sylvi Listhaug where Minister of Transportation Ketil Solvik-Olsen and Minister of Climate and Environment Tine Sundtoft also were present. Later on, the four took a picture which appeared on the Government.no website on 14 March the same year.^[14] In April of the same year she criticized European Court over data retention which Telenor Group argued can be used without court proceedings.^[15]

Mordechai Vanunu case

In April 2008, it was revealed that Solberg, as Minister of Local Government and Regional Development in 2004, had rejected a request for asylum in Norway by the Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu.^[16] While the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration had been prepared to grant Vanunu asylum, it was then decided that the application could not be accepted because Vanunu's application had been made outside the borders of Norway.^[17] An unclassified document revealed that Solberg and the government considered that extraditing Vanunu from Israel could be seen as an action against Israel and thus unfitting to the Norwegian government's traditional position as a friend of Israel and as a political player in the Middle East. Solberg rejected this criticism and defended her decision.^[18]

References

1. Hellberg, Lars. "Erna Solberg" (in Norwegian). Norsk biografisk leksikon. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
2. Alstadheim, Kjetil B. (December 22, 2012). "Solberg-og-dal-banen". Dagens Næringsliv (in Norwegian). Oslo. p. 2.
3. PM 1981, 1986–1989, 1990–1996
4. "Avtale mellom Venstre, Kristelig Folkeparti, Fremskrittspartiet og Høyre" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Høyre. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
5. Johansen, Per Kristian (February 9, 2009). "Erna Solberg varsler tøffere integrering" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on October 10, 2013. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
6. Eivind Fondenes and Aslak Eriksrud. "Partifellene, syntes ikke Erna Solberg var blå nok" [Comrades did not Erna Solberg was blue enough] (in Norwegian). TV2. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
7. "After softening, 'Iron Erna' Solberg set to become Norway's PM". Daily News and Analysis. Reuters. September 10, 2013. Archived from the original on April 11, 2014.
8. Morken, Johannes (8 May 2009). "Erna Solberg varsler tøffere integrering" [Erna Solberg suggests tougher integration]. Vårt Land (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on April 12, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
9. Svela, Helge O. (September 13, 2009). "Det (var) altså flere asylsøkere som kom til Norge under den forrige Bondevik-regjeringen som Erna var med i, enn det har kommet nå under den rød-grønne regjeringen" [It (was) thus more asylum seekers coming to Norway during the previous Bondevik government that Erna was in, than it has now come under the red-green government]. Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on September 15, 2009. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
10. Sandli, Espen (November 6, 2003). "Solberg ber om shariaråd" [Solberg asking for Sharia Council]. Drammens Tidende (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on February 25, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
11. Ljones, Bjørg Irene (August 11, 2007). "Forby sharialover i Norge" [Prohibiting Sharia law in Norway]. Norge Idag (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on January 17, 2004. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
12. Almendingen, Berit (September 20, 2004). "Erna vil friste innvandrere til Norge" [Erna will entice immigrants to Norway]. TV 2 (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
13. "Dette er utfordringene som møter de nye statsrådene" [These are the challenges facing the new ministers]. Aftenposten. October 16, 2013. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
14. "Skogens rolle i klimasammenheng" [The forest's role in climate change]. Government.no. March 14, 2014. Archived from the original on April 12, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
15. "Erna Solbergs datalagring kan bli torpedert" [Erna Solberg: Data storage can be torpedoed]. Bergens Tidende. Archived from the original on April 12, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
16. Dennis Ravndal (September 4, 2008). "Erna Solberg hindret Vanunu i å få asyl" [Erna Solberg prevented Vanunu in getting asylum]. VG. Archived from the original on April 13, 2008. Retrieved April 10, 2008.
17. Stian Eisenträger (September 4, 2008). "Vanunu: - Håper Norge angrer asyl-avslaget" [Vanunu: - Hope Norway regrets asylum refusal]. VG. Archived from the original on April 13, 2008. Retrieved April 10, 2008.
18. Stian Eisenträger (September 4, 2008). "Vanunu-venner i harnisk" [Vanunu friends outraged]. VG. Archived from the original on April 14, 2008. Retrieved April 10, 2008.

• "Erna Solberg" (in Norwegian). Storting.

External links

• "Erna Solber prevented Vanunu's asylum"
• "Vanunu - Hope that Norway will give me asylum"
• "Vanunu's friends furious - politicians mute"