Jens Stoltenberg, who was persuaded to stay on for 10 years as NATO’s secretary general, is enjoying his new role as Norway’s finance minister so much that he now says he wants to remain in the post if his Labour Party wins re-election in September. That means Stoltenberg may once again postpone taking on another new job as head of the Munich Security Conference.
In an interview with the Norwegian financial news service E24, Stoltenberg said he’d like to stay on as finance minister for another four years if Norwegian voters re-elect a Labour-led government this fall. Stoltenberg led Labour himself and was Norway’s prime minister until Labour lost the election in 2013. A few months later he was asked to lead NATO.
He had only expected one four-year term at NATO, but that was extended by another four years and then two more after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. When Stoltenberg made it clear last year that a decade in the top NATO post was enough, he was quickly tapped to lead the Munich Security Council. Then his old friend in Oslo, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, asked him to take over as finance minister back home in Norway, and Stoltenberg agreed.
The appointment of the popular Stoltenberg has helped send support for Labour soaring, not least since Stoltenberg replaced the unpopular Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum after Center had pulled out of Støre’s coalition government. Now Labour is going it alone as a minority government, but enjoying a huge increase in voter support. Recent polls portray it as bigger, with more than 26 percent of the vote, than either the Conservatives or the Progress party, both at just over 19 percent. Vedum’s Center Party has slumped to just 4.7 percent.
Much of that reflects not only Stoltenberg’s popularity and experience in dealing with world leaders as NATO chief, but also Støre’s skills as a seasoned diplomat during a time of worldwide turmoil. The internationally oriented Støre-Stoltenberg duo, along with a pure-Labour cabinet, also has the luxury of no longer needing to compromise with the more nationalistic and protectionist Center Party. Now Støre and Stoltenberg have a much bigger chance of hanging on to government control.
“I’m heading into the election campaign with a goal of getting the (Labour) government re-elected, and I’d like to continue in Norwegian politics,” Stoltenberg told E24, careful to note, however, that “it’s the voters who will decide.”
Officials at the Munich Security Conference, meanwhile, appear willing to patiently wait for Stoltenberg to take over as its leader. He was granted leave from the post when he was called upon to take over as Norwegian finance minister.
“We are glad that Stoltenberg is thriving in his role as finance minister,” Benedikt Franke, chief executive of the Munich Security Conference, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) over the weekend. Franke added that Stoltenberg, who just turned 66, will still be welcome as conference chairman when he leaves Norwegian politics, adding that he and his colleagues in Munich haven’t given up on Stoltenberg or given him a deadline.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund