AUF lobbies for more gun control

Security will be higher than ever before when Norway’s Labour Party holds its national meeting this weekend, and the head of its youth organization AUF will be lobbying for another sort of security measure as well. Eskil Pedersen wants a ban on semi-automatic weapons, and accuses all of Norway’s political parties of a lack of [...]

New commission to evaluate collective bargaining

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, still shaken by a wave of strikes by public sector workers, has appointed a new commission to examine how pay levels are set. Stoltenberg confirmed that he wants a commission to study the wage process in Norway following a meeting Tuesday morning with representatives of all those involved. The meeting was [...]

Jens back on the campaign trail

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was moving on this week, from guiding the nation’s mourning period to fronting political issues and, not least, the municipal election campaign that was postponed by the July 22 terrorist attacks. Commentators who follow the popular premier agreed after the first televised party leader debate that Stoltenberg succeeded in making the [...]

Health chief updates casualty figures

There was a great deal of confusion when police and emergency workers initially started releasing the numbers of dead and wounded following the July 22 terrorist attacks in Norway. Now Norwegian health care officials have released new details but the death toll stands at 77. Bjørn-Inge Larsen, head of the Norwegian Directorate of Health, reported [...]

Majority calls for July 22 memorial

A new public opinion poll indicates that a majority of the Norwegian population wants to make July 22, the day Norway was attacked by a domestic terrorist, a memorial day on the official calendar to be marked year after year. The poll, conducted by research firm InFact for newspaper VG, showed that 62.9 percent of [...]

Labour may draw sympathy vote

The Norwegian Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet, Ap) is likely to enjoy a new boost of support following the recent terrorist attacks in which it was a major target. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who leads the party and Norway’s Labour-led government, is also more popular than ever, according to a new public opinion poll. The poll conducted [...]

Worried premier gathered the troops

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg interrupted his summer holidays and those of several others to host an emergency session on the debt crises in Europe and the US. Stoltenberg warned that the crises can be serious for Norway as well, despite the country’s strong economy and oil reserves. “We mustn’t have any illusions that a new [...]

Labour’s summer camp opens

NOTE TO READERS: This story was written before a massacre at the camp on July 22 killed 69 persons. See our coverage here. Around 1,000 young supporters of Norway’s Labour Party were making their way over to Utøya this week, an island in the Tyrifjord that’s often viewed as an incubator for future Labour Party [...]

A statesman turns 80

Veteran diplomat and politician Thorvald Stoltenberg is the father of both a doctor, the prime minister of Norway and a daughter who’s a recovering heroin addict but who helped put the issue on the public agenda. On Friday Stoltenberg celebrated turning 80 by saying that he never thought he’d have such exceptional and different children, [...]

Stoltenberg fends off criticism

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, his Labour Party and the coalition government he leads have come under increasing criticism lately, over everything from hospital reform to use of Norway’s oil revenues. The government parties have also tumbled in public opinion polls, but Stoltenberg denies their ambitions have declined or that the criticism is justified. “We have [...]