Per-Kristian Foss, veteran politician for the Conservative Party and a former finance minister, isn’t retiring after all. Instead, he’ll be taking over as state auditor general, after Jørgen Kosmo of the Labour Party.
Foss, age 63, spent 32 years as a Member of Parliament but stepped down in June and claimed to newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) over the weekend that “free time is underestimated.” He nonetheless will give up his newly “free” status from January 1, after his party’s proposal that he be the next auditor general (riksrevisor) won support from the Progress Party, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals.
Those are the parties behind the new Conservative-Progress coalition that’s taking government office this week, but Foss insists he’ll be non-partisan and represent the entire Parliament.
He already has served as second vice president of the Parliament and was a member of the parliament’s disciplinary committee. His appointment as auditor general will be formalized later this fall.
Until then Foss intends to continue enjoying his “free time,” telling DN that he was spending last weekend in the mountains at Ål in Hallingdal “doing as little as possible,” although there’d likely be some hiking and “good food.” Then he was heading for Bergen, where he’s on the board of the art museum KODE.
“I hope I can follow up the good job Jørgen Kosmo has done, by making the auditor’s job more visible among the public,” Foss told newspaper Dagsavisen. “I have no major plans for any big changes.”
newsinenglish.no/Nina Berglund
