Norway
Political comeback for ex-Nato general secretary Jens Stoltenberg
Jens Stoltenberg returns to Norwegian politics. The former NATO general secretary helps his home government and his workers’ party in a crisis.
Former NATO Secretary General and former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg becomes the new finance minister of the country. Stoltenberg announced this in a written statement.
“After carefully considering the current challenges that we have opposed, I decided to meet the request from Prime Minister (Jonas Gahr) Støre to serve him as finance minister,” said Stoltenberg.
At the end of January, the government coalition in Norway was broken in a dispute over the implementation of EU regulations for the energy market. The rural and European-skeptical center party as the previous junior partner of Støre’s Social Democrats emerged from the government in the course of the discrepancies. Eight months before the election, the workers’ party is now solely at the government, which is why cabinet conversion was necessary. The workers’ party is in the surveys.
Jens Stoltenberg has the Office at Münchner Security Conference for the time being
In a live broadcast on the Norwegian government’s website, you could see how Stoltenberg came to the square in front of the royal castle in Oslo together with Støre and his cabinet. Other new faces in the government include Tore O. Sandvik as Minister of Defense and Astri Aas-Hansen as Minister of Justice.
The 65-year-old Stoltenberg is a economist by profession and was already finance minister from 1996 to 1997. It belongs to the Governing Workers’ Party and from 2000 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2013 Norwegian Prime Minister and from 2014 to 2024 NATO General Secretary.
He should have become head of the Norwegian central bank in 2022. However, Stoltenberg did not take the office after the then US President Joe Biden had asked him to continue to act as NATO boss. In February 2022, Russia started its large -scale invasion of Ukraine.
From the Cold War to the present: the history of NATO in pictures
April 4, 1949
Ten Western European countries, the United States and Canada found NATO in Washington to counter the threat of the Soviet Union. They commit to mutual assistance in the event of an attack (“alliance case”). The Alliance is gradually being expanded in the following years. In the photo: The representatives of the participating countries during the solemn signature ceremony on April 4, 1949 in Washington DC
© EPS / AFP / Picture Alliance
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In mid -February, Stoltenberg was supposed to take over the chair of the Munich Security Conference (MSC). However, he lets this post rest as long as he is finance minister in Norway. During this time, the vice bosses of the MSC, Benedikt Franke and Rainer Rudolph, took over the tasks of the chairman, as was the result of a message from the MSC. In the meantime, however, Stoltenberg also wants to participate in the activities of the security conference, insofar as he allowed him to have his new office as finance minister.
In autumn 2024, Stoltenberg said that he did not want to return to the top policy of his home country. The next Norwegian parliamentary election is scheduled to take place in September. The Norwegian constitution does not provide early new elections.
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Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
