The former NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg will be the new finance minister of his home country Norway. This is made possible by government reorganization. The 65-year-old actually wanted to lead the Munich security conference in the future.
Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg becomes Norway's new finance minister. The 65-year-old announced in a written statement. “After carefully considering the current challenges that we have opposed, I decided to comply with the request from Prime Minister (Jonas Gahr) Store 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 center party as the previous junior partner of the Social Democrats of Store emerged in the course of the discrepancies from the government. Therefore, Store had to fill up eight ministerial posts that previously held politicians from the Center Party.
Government reorganization in Norway
In a live broadcast on the Norwegian government's website, you could see how Stoltenberg, together with Store and his cabinet, took the square in front of the royal castle in Oslo. Other new faces in the government include Tore O. Sandvik as Minister of Defense and Astri Aas-Hansen as Minister of Justice.
In a first statement as a designated finance minister, Stoltenberg dealt with possible new US tariffs. Norway's government will do anything to avoid the introduction of tariffs to Norwegian products, he said. He trusts the dialogue with the USA.
Office at Security conference rests for now
Stoltenberg was Norwegian Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2013 and NATO General Secretary from 2014 to 2024. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 thwarted its plan to become head of the Norwegian central bank.
In mid -February, Stoltenberg will 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. “I will return to the Munich Security Conference and my other tasks if my term is over,” said Stoltenberg in Oslo. During this time, 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 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.
