Prime Minister-elect Erna Solberg has made a point of carrying large plastic shopping bags full of chocolates, snacks and other sweets into the talks she’s leading to form a new Conservatives-led government. The goodies, she told reporters, are meant to help boost spirits during the intense negotiations.
The sweets, though, struck a sour note with health-conscious members of a rural women’s organization, Norges Bygdekvinnelag. In a letter to newspaper Aftenposten, group leader Kathrine Kleveland wrote that she was disappointed that Solberg “filled the meeting room” with what Norwegians call snop.
“Most meeting rooms these days are rather filled with tempting fruit instead of pastries and chocolate,” Kleveland wrote. She noted that she and fellow members were in the midst of a two-year project aimed at teaching children and adults how to make “healthy and good food,” and how to make healthy choices when choosing ingredients for meals.
“Why show plastic bags full of sweets?” Kleveland queried. Solberg, whose weight has been a topic of media discussion earlier, had no answer, but it should be noted that she has stopped smoking.
newsinenglish.no staff
