Currency traders pushed Norway’s krone on Tuesday up to its strongest level against the euro since early summer. The krone also strengthened against the US dollar, likely fueled by higher oil prices.
One euro cost NOK 10.87 Tuesday afternoon, making conversion the cheapest since the beginning of June. One US dollar cost NOK 9.31 late Tuesday afternoon, compared to as much as NOK 11 in recent years.
The Norwegian krone initially gained strength in early June but weakened again just before the summer holidays, and by late June a euro cost NOK 11.34. The Norwegian krone remained mostly on par with the Swedish Tuesday evening, at NOK 0.98 to SEK 1.
Norway’s state directorate in charge of digitalization (Digdir) found itself under another cyber attack during the night and well into Monday. Digital defense systems were said to be stable, however, and able to limit consequences of what amounted to data overload.
The attack continued into the afternoon, “but we have taken steps that have brought systems back up and available again,” Digdir director Frode Danielsen told state broadcaster NRK. Services affected included ID-porten and Altinn, often used for access to the tax authority and other state services.
It was the third attack in recent weeks and Danielsen warned that users could still experience instability. There was no comment on who or what was behind the latest attack.
Get well wishes were pouring in for Norway’s 89-year-old King Harald V on Monday, after the Royal Palace disclosed Sunday evening that his health had worsened during the weekend. The monarch has been in and out of the hospital in recent years, and now he’s being treated for anemia and another infection, this time in his blood.
Norway’s King Harald V, shown here leaving Parliament with Queen Sonja after its official opening late last year. PHOTO: Morten Brakestad/Stortinget
King Harald was hospitalized again a week ago, after receiving cortisone treatment for hemolistic anemia. That led to trouble with an accumulation of body fluids that required hospital treatment, and the palace announced he would remain in Norway’s national hospital (Rikshospitalet) until his condition improved.
On Sunday evening, the palace reported that his condition had worsened and that he was receiving antibiotics to fight “bacteria in the blood.” He reportedly was responding to the treatment and the situation, according to the palace, had stabilized.
That prompted media including Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) to offer online means of sending greetings to the king. The response was swift, with well over a thousand get-well messages accumulating on NRK’s website by mid-afternoon and reflecting just how important King Harald is to many Norwegians.
“Dear King Harald!” wrote Janet Kristine and Johan Fredrik Garmann. “We wish you all the best … and look forward to you getting back to your everyday life. You are the unifying person Norway needs in the times we’re living in.”
“You are unifying, inclusive and outstanding in your work,” added another well-wisher, Sofie Stene. “You are the person holding the people and the country together, and must get well again soon.”
Others also wrote about how much the king means to them: “Your Majesty, you are Alt For Norge (the royal motto that pledges the monarch’s goal to serve all of the country). Norway is Alt For Dem (Everything for you). Long live the king,” wrote Benjamin Hadland.
Several wrote that they were disappointed King Harald wouldn’t be able to take part next month in a visit to one of the last and very few municipalities in Norway that he hadn’t visited before. Terje Bøgeberg noted, however, that Queen Sonja had visited Skaun in Trøndelag a few years ago, “and she managed very well.”
Another Norwegian, Greta Malmo, wrote on NRK’s messaging service that she wished the best “for our king,” noting that he is “always wise and thoughtful” and has “a very good sense of humour.” Roger Bull Haahammer admitted he was no big fan of the monarchy in Norway, “but you have done a brilliant job as king. I wish you a speedy recovery with all of my heart!”
Others like Tormod Leithe also wished well for “our wise king,” while Tove-Mette Solvik wished “heaps of speedy recovery wishes” to “the finest and warmest king on the entire planet. We are lucky to have you.”
All the good wishes and concern for King Harald come after the past few years of crisis, controversy and scandal around other members of the Norwegian royal family. King Harald’s daughter Princess Martha Louise, his daughter-in-law Crown Princess Mette-Marit and her troublesome son Marius Borg Høiby have taken a toll on the monarchy, with its public approval ratings falling from around 80 percent to just over 60 percent in recent months. King Harald himself, however, remains popular and respected as does Queen Sonja. Their son, Crown Prince Haakon, is currently serving as regent during the king’s latest illness and has been under enormous pressure to keep calm and carry on.
Medical experts were warning on Monday that the elderly often have complicated health problems. Treatment for some can create new, and underlying weaknesses can quickly add to the complexity of their overall health status. “I’m worried, like most others are as well, I think,” Dr Anette Hylen Ranhoff, a professor and senior research at Norway’s public health institute, told NRK on Monday. “This is our dear king.”
Ranhoff thinks it’s “good news,” though, that King Harald was responding to treatment and that his condition was described as “stable” on Monday. Both Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon visited King Harald at the national hospital in Oslo on Monday afternoon.
Airline passengers could breathe a sigh of relief on Monday after Norwegian air traffic controllers called off the strike they’d launched just before the weekend. Their labour organization came to terms with state aviation agency Avinor Monday afternoon, after nearly six hours of renewed negotiations.
Air traffic controllers would be retuning to work in the tower at Norway’s gateway airport, Oslo Gardermoen (OSL), on Monday afternoon. OSL Gardermoen was hit hardest by the strike, along with Bergen’s Flesland airport. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
Avinor, represented by employers’ organization Spekter, and the air traffic controllers’ organization Flygelederforeningen issued a joint statement claiming they were all “extremely satisfied” that they’d reached an agreement. That in turn meant that “the strike that has rammed passengers and airline traffic is now over.”
All of the air traffic controllers who’d been called out on strike were heading back to work and would be “back on the job as soon as possible.” Avinor could also announce that airline traffic “is on its way back to normal.”
Airlines and their passengers still faced after-effects of the strike, with more delays and cancellations caused by aircraft that are out of place and the thousands of reschedulings for those stranded both in Norway and abroad. Travel insurance doesn’t cover distruptions caused by strikes, but the airlines themselves are responsible for getting passengers to their destinations.
Leaders of the organizations involved in the strike remained mum on details of their settlement, claiming they were subject to confidentiality clauses. The air traffic controllers’ leader, Robert Gjønnes, told state broadcaster NRK that they’d simply “carried out a professional and good dialogue. Dialogue is always the solution.”
Spekter leader Anne-Kari Bratten, who negotiated on behalf of Avinor, added that they’d come to terms on “a process for senior policy” for veteran air traffic controllers that include more time off for those over age 55. The air traffic controllers themselves had claimed their strike wasn’t over pay levels, which already are high compared to other workers’, but rather a need for more breaks during long shifts at work.
The two sides initially hadn’t planned to meet for new talks until Tuesday, when more air traffic controllers would also be called off the job. They later announced, however, that they’d head back to the bargaining table at 8am Monday, which lead to the settlement Monday afternoon.
Negotiations went on for nearly six hours before the two sides came to terms. Avinor leader Abraham Foss, who’s responsible for airport operations in Norway, was glad that what he called “a demanding situation for many travelers and airlines” was over. He stressed that air traffic controllers “do a very important job every single day. It’s a job that demands high competence, precision and a feeling of responsibility, which is central for secure and well-functioning aviation.”
Gjønnes, meanwhile, publicly apologized for all the disruption that the strike had caused for travelers. An estimated 87,000 people were expected to travel through OSL Gardermoen alone on Monday, lines were long at check-in and security and it would take time before airline traffic was back to normal.
“It’s unfortunate when a third party is affected by the strike, and we are very sorry about that,” Gjønnes stated in an email to Norwegian media.
Norway’s gateway airport, Oslo Gardermoen, was shut down Sunday morning after Norwegian air traffic controllers launched a strike just before the weekend. All flights were cancelled for at least five hours and only a limited number of departures and arrivals would be allowed later in the day.
Norway’s main gateway airport at Gardermoen north of Oslo was shut down Sunday morning, disrupting air travel all over the country. PHOTO: Avinor – Nordic Office of Architecture – Ivan Brodery
The strike was also seriously affecting air travel to and from Norway and all over the country, with flight disruptions in Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim and all others run by the state airport agency Avinor. OSL Gardermoen reported 75 cancelled departures and 47 cancelled arrivals.
Residents and tourists alike faced flight cancellations and delays after an initial group of 12 Norwegian air traffic controllers were pulled off the job in a disupte over long working shifts and limited breaks. The air traffic controllers are well-paid, with average salaries of NOK 1.4 million (USD 140,000), but their leader complained of shifts that can last as long as 16 hours “in certain situations” without a break.
“Today the work shifts are not regulated as they should be,” Robert Gjønnes, head of the Norwegian air traffic controllers’ organization Norsk Flygelederforening, told newspaper Dagsavisen. “We want a framework for this, but don’t think our employer (Avinor, represented by employers’ organization Spekter) will enter into a dialogue about this.”
Spekter’s leader Anne-Kari Bratten retorted that it was “completely unreasonable” for the air traffic controllers to launch a strike that would so drastically affect air travel in Norway. She stressed that they had instead turned down a wage offer that amounted to an average NOK 62,000 more per, a raise of more than 4 percent that she claimed was in line with other wage settlements in Norway this year. Avinor also maintained in its information to the public that the strike was “a result of disagreements in wage negotiations,” and “would have consequences for air travel.”
Gjønnes insisted the strike was not about wages but about difficult working conditions. Air traffic controllers have long been well-paid because of their demanding work, special competence and responsibility for the lives and safety of everyone on board aircraft. “They have specialized education and often can’t be replaced,” researcher Kristine Nergaard at labour organization Fafo told Dagsavisen, “and flights can’t take off or land if they’re not on the job.”
That’s why all flights apart from medical emergencies were grounded Sunday morning, after flight disruptions earlier in the weekend. OSL Gardermoen was shut down for at least five hours, from 6:30-11:30am Sunday, disrupting flights throughout the day and for as long as the strike lasts. Norwegian Air alone had to cancel 72 flights that affected around 9,000 passengers. They’ll all need to be re-booked on other flights when some air space reopens, and were advised to remain in contact with their airline.
Air ambulances, police helicopters and defense forces will have priority over domestic aviation when only a limited number of air traffic controllers show up for work later on Sunday. More of them will be called off the job from Tuesday, however, if negotiations fail to resume. That would force closure of more air space around the country.
A head-on collision involving at least two cars on Wednesday closed an important highway connecting Northern- and Southern Norway. There was a massive emergency response to the fatal accident that left one person dead and three others seriously injured.
The crash occurred on the main north-south E6 highway close to the Dovregubbens hall restaurant and hotel complex. An employee there told state broadcaster NRK that traffic stood still while emergency crews both drove and were flown in to the area.
The speed limit in the area is 80kmt (50mph), and various reports indicated several cars were involved. All available emergency response crews and air ambulances in the area were sent to the site, along with fire trucks, police and state highway crews.
A 40-kilometer stretch of the scenic two-lane highway was expected to remain closed for around six hours in both directions, blocked on both the Dombås and Oppdal sides of it.
The views from a hilltop called Prekestolåsen on the Hurum peninsula south of Oslo are stunning, as they are from several other peaks in the area. Farmland surrounds the forested area known as Hurummarka, but more than four square kilometers of it is now targeted as the site of a new explosives plant that pits the value of the great outdoors against the need for defense and preparedness.
The view from the northern side of Prekestolåsen extends over to Rødbykollen, which is likely to be off-limits if and when Chemring Nobel builds its new explosives plant. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
Thousands of hikers have visited the area just in the last few years, after the local skiing and trekking association Skiforeningen chose it for three posts recommended to visit. It’s also a popular recreational area with local residents, many of whom now feel that both the government and the company behind the explosives plant, Chemring Nobel, are forcing the plant upon them.
Among them is Line Johansen, an independent representative on the local Asker municipal council. She fears that local democracy is being overrun by the close cooperation between Norway’s defense ministry and Chemring Nobel, which has operated another high-security munitions plant nearby since 1876. Both stress how demand for advanced explosives has soared since Russia launched its “brutal war” against Ukraine, while also citing “necessary military buildup in Norway and other allied countries.
“The need for military explosives in Europe is greated than today’s production capacity can meet,” states Chemring Nobel on its website, adding that a new explosives plant will also “strengthen Norway’s defense capability and contribute to NATO’s overall preparedness.”
Another view towards the hilly southeast of Hurummarka shows the extent of the sprawling area chosen for the new explosives plant. Not all of it would be developed, but security zones around it would limit public access. On the other side of the forested hills in the background lies the coastal town of Tofte, which has an industrial history and port facilities. Explosives could be shipped out from Tofte to customers via the Oslo Fjord. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
The new plant, which would produce “high-level explosives like HMX, RDX and NTO” needed for use in modern ammunition, remains in “an early phase,” according to Chemring Nobel, and it will be “several years” before it’s operable. The Norwegian government has already decided to concentrate on the Hurum site, with “comprehensive analyses and project plans underway.”
That’s what concerns Line Johansen most of all. She recently wrote in a commentary in newspaper Dagsavisen that “this is about how far the state can go when it thinks something is urgent. It’s about what will happen the next time a project is considered critical and is pushed through, whether it’s a power line, a new data center or a industrial project that’s deemed so important that local democracy must give way.”
She and many others object to what they think is a major power play by the state. More than 800 people had sent in their comments when the hearing deadline for the plans ran out last month. Many of them also responded negatively to the state process and questioned why it was so rushed, with newspaper Aftenposten reporting concerns the process was “undemocratic” and lacked any real opportunity for the public to influence it.
Opponents to the explosives plant have blocked off a road leading into the area where Chemring Nobel may want to build. An old building just up the road, once ironically tied to a military shooting range, has also been occupied but the demonstrators and squatters on the site have gone along with a fire department’s ban on sleeping in it. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
Opposition to the project has exploded itself in recent months, after local mobilization and the arrival of environmental activists from abroad. They occupied a building in the valley just under scenic Preskestolåsen and have launched colourful protests in the area. Ironically enough, the road they’ve blocked off that leads into the building was formerly defense property and the site of a military shooting range. When the defense department no longer needed the area, the state turned it over to the local government in Asker, but now wants it back.
“The project is of considerable importance for national interests and urgent,” wrote one planning leader in Forsvarsbygg, the state agency tied to the defense ministry that is in charge of defense property. He wrote to Aftenposten that the urgency is directly tied to “the acute and critical need for increased production of advanced explosives.” Chemring Nobel’s new plant will contribute, the agency has claimed earlier, to the supplies needed for the defense of Ukraine.
Demonstrators at the site, however, fear the explosives will instead be sold to the US “and sent to Israel,” claimed one of them, an elderly man who spoke Norwegian. Others at the site could not speak Norwegian, had come to Norway and Hurum to join a new environmental battle and did not want to reveal their names. Others were also masked, wearing scarves over their faces so as not to be identified. Their “Join the Resistance” pamphlets were also written in English, proudly proclaiming that “we have occupied the abandoned military barracks in Avgrunnsdalen (the valley below Prekestolåsen) and established an Actively Defended Zone in Hurummarka!”
This sign hung in the trees was written in Norwegian and calls for a halt to “the war machine, Hurummarka for the people and down with Chemring.” The agency birdhouse was also decorated defiantly. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
They claimed to “support the locals in defending Hurummarka from the Ministry of Defense and Chemring Nobel’s planned explosives factory (Europe’s largest).” They called the factory “a profit-seeking military-industrial complex” that would be built “not for self-defense as claimed, but to enrich shareholders while expanding the war machine and the American empire.” They wrote that Chemring Nobel is wholly owned by British Chemring Groups PLC, of which the American firm Blackrock is the largest shareholder.
They further write that “90 percent of Chemring Nobel’s production is exported abroad, mostly to the US arms industry (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Space X) and often on to Israel. We know that explosives produced at Chemring are part of the American-made Hellfire missile, which is widely used in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians,” reads their leaflet passed out to visitors and at demonstrations.
The Norwegian government continues to stress the need for ammunition for Norway’s own defense and for shipments to Ukraine. The project alone can also serve as a deterrent to any prospective invaders, and Forsvarsbygg has written that it’s in Norway’s own national security interests that the explosives plant be up and running by 2030 at the latest.
Small signs like these line the public road into the entire area where the new explosives may be located. They read, simply, “NO TO an explosives plant in Hurummarka.” PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
Opponents, however, cite yet other problems with the project, not least that few think Russia’s war on Ukraine will still be going on in 2030 or or beyond. There’s also the threat the new plant poses to the Oslo Fjord itself, which has been declared all but “dead” because of pollution, much of it from nitrogen found in the fertilizer run-off from agriculture. Chemring Nobel itself has been a source of nitrogen pollution at its original plant at Sætre, around 25 kilometers to the northwest. The company now promises it will have “strict demands for security, quality and the environment.”
Opposition has spread, meanwhile, and now includes some Norwegian celebrities like musician Ingrid Olava and comedian Sigrid Bonde Tusvik, who has written commentaries in local newspapers including Dagsavisen. The son of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who visited Chemring Nobel in 2024 just as the project was getting underway, also opposes the project. Magnus Jonas Slagsvold Støre lives on a farm in the area where he works as therapist and course leader and calls the explosives plant “dangerous peace politics.” He told newspaper VG recently that he wants the Hurum peninsula to remain “a place for water and nature, not fire and explosives.” Prime Minister Støre himself has thus declared a conflict of interest in the subject and withdrawn from debate on the issue.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre visited Chemring Nobel at its high-security plant at Sætre on the Hurum peninsula in late 2024, just when plans for the plant were announced. Støre has since declared himself subject to a conflict of interest because of his own son’s objections to the plant, and withdrawn from the decision-making process. PHOTO: Nils-Erik Bjørholt / Chemring Nobel
Newspaper Klassekampen reported in mid-July that Asker now wants to tear down the building that demonstrators are occupying. “The property today has no municipal function, and tearing it down is one of several things under consideration in the area,” municipal director Lars Bjerke told Klassekampen, “also to prevent any dangerous situations and hinder illegal use.”
There’s also the possibility that Russia’s war on Ukraine will end before Chemring Nobel could produce more explosives in Hurummarka in 2030 or beyond. “We hope the war has ended before then,” Karsten Friis of Norway’s foreign policy institute NUPI told Aftenposten. Friis still believes, however, that it’s important to boost production of explosives in Europe, because the war has emptied storage supplies at the same time Europe is building up its defense.
“Regardless of how things go with Ukraine, analysts think Russia continues to represent a threat to Europe as long as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin hangs on to power, and probably long than that,” Friis said. Both Europe and Ukraine will continue to need weapons, he stressed, even after the war ends.
UPDATED: Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide was quick to challenge a new 12.5 percent tariff imposed last week by US President Donald Trump on much of what the US imports from Norway. Eide claimed that Trump’s reasoning behind the tariff is simply wrong, that “we strongly disagree” with Trump’s decision to impose it, and now Eide is inviting Norwegian business leaders to a special meeting next week to hear their reaction.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide is having to deal with US President Donald Trump’s unpredictability and punitive actions once again. PHOTO: Torbjørn Kjosvold, Forsvaret
“The United States’ tariff creates enormous unpredictability for Norwegian export firms,” Eide said after inviting Norwegian business leaders to an emergency meeting on the tariff’s consequences in early August.
“We have ongoing contact with business and industry,” Eide said. “It’s extremely important for the government to hear their evaluation of the situation, and launch a dialogue on what consequences more tariffs wil have on Norwegian export firms.”
Many business leaders have already been complaining and worrying about the effect on sales, especially when other exporters elsewhere in Europe face a lower tariff than the Norwegians. That will put Norway, already a high-cost country, at a further disadvantage when selling to the US.
The new tariff took effect immediately and will mostly affect Norway’s exports of seafood, furniture and industrial products to the US. The irony is that it’s American consumers who like Norwegian salmon, for example, who will get hit hardest by Trump’s tariff when salmon prices rise. Eide called the tariff “completely unreasonable” and unfair, but Norway won’t resort to slapping a reciprocal tariff on the US that would affect Norwegian consumers.
Eide was especially provoked by Trump’s decision to impose a tariff against Norway that’s higher than the 10 percent tariff Trump maintained on imports from the EU. Norway is not a member of the EU but nor is Great Britain, which was hit with the same 10 percent tariff as the EU. Eide objected mightily to how Norway was treated differently and more harshly than the vast majority of its European neighbours.
The new tariffs carry on or replace the global and temporary tariff of 10 percent that was imposed by Trump earlier. Those tariffs had in turn replaced Trump’s initial punitive tariffs that ranged from 10- to 50 percent against US trading partners, but later were ruled as illegal by the US’ own Supreme Court.
Seafood is among Norway’s major export products, second only to oil and gas. Now its price is likely to rise in the US after the US president imposed a new punitive tariff on seafood of of 12.5 percent. PHOTO: NRD
Only around 3.5 percent of Norway’s total exports go to the US, so the actual effect on Norway is limited, notes Professor Ola H Grytten at the Norwegian business school NHH (Norges Handeslhøyskole). Norwegian producers of salmon and other seafood may see sales decline, but it’s the principles behind free trade that are most at stake. “Trump is in a judicial grey zone on this,” the chief economist at Sparebank1 Markets, Harald Magnus Andresassen, told news bureau NTB. He noted that Trump “needs to keep finding new ways of imposing tariffs without Congressional confirmation,” since he lacks a majority in Congress to do so.
The “new way” Trump has found now is to claim that Norway and other countries hit by his higher tariffs haven’t done enough to forbid imports of goods produced by slave labour. Foreign Minister Eide firmly contradicts that, as does Trade Minister Cecilie Myrseth. “Slave labour is of course forbidden in Norway today,” Myrseth told NTB before the tariffs were announced. She stressed that Norway has also imposed a ban on any imports of items that may have involved slave- or child labour.
Eide was in the Philippines when Trump’s new tariffs were announced. He’d been attending a meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and sounded furious when interviewed live on national radio and TV last Friday morning: “We maintain that (Trump’s) claim is wrong, and we strongly disagree with this decision,” Eide said. He added that Norway “has long had very clear regulations” against any connection to slave- or child labour, and “we believe it is completely unreasonable to say that we in any way contribute to it.” His US counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was also in Manila at the time, and Eide said Norway’s protests had been expressed directly to Rubio: “We can’t see that we have any worse regulations than the EU in this area.”
Several other experts also object to the US’ new tariff against Norway. Janne Haaland Matlary, a professor specializing in international politics at the University of Oslo, equated Trump’s accusation of slave labour violations to an excuse he’s come up with to justify the tariff. “If there are any countries that are very careful about suppliers and those under them regarding child labour and human rights, it’s countries in Europe,” Matlary told NTB. “That applies to EU members and to Norway, so this is completely baseless.”
Matlary does think, however, that Trump’s new 12.5 percent tariff on Norwegian imports is another good reason for Norway to join the EU. If Norway was a member of the EU it would have a lower tariff and be part of a much larger organization to stand up to Trump. “This is very bad news for Europe and all countries that have been slapped with this extra tariff,” she told state broadcaster NRK on Friday afternoon. “It’s especially bad for countries outside the EU, like Norway, which have a higher tariff.”
It will apply to around 67 percent of what the US imports from Norway, according to the foreign ministry. Other Norwegian exports to the US including fertilizer, fuel and various food products are exempt.
Norwegian exports in general, meanwhile, increased again when figures for June were released by Norway’s State Statistics Bureau (SSB) last week. SSB reported that Norway logged an overall trade surplus of NOK 62 billion, mostly because of high revenues from oil and gas in addition to seafood products. Norway’s total exports amounted to NOK 158.3 billion, up 12.5 percent from June of last year.
The meeting announced on July 29 will be held at government headquarters in Oslo and also be attended by Trade Minister Myrseth and Fisheries Minister Marianne Sivertsen Næss. Both they and Foreign Minister Eide now worry that Trump may announce even more tariffs in connection with results from a new survey of structural industrial over-capacity.
COMMENTARY: Many in Oslo remember exactly where they were when the bomb went off on Friday afternoon, July 22, 2011. I had just taken a dear old friend visiting from California and her daughter on a tour of downtown, and we were walking from Parliament to the Akershus Fortress when the sudden deafening blast shook the ground like one of our own California earthquakes.
This was the scene inside the former Labour Ministry in downtown Oslo, where windows blew out and walls fell. Eight people were killed in the blast and many more severely injured, but casualties would have been a lot higher if the bomb hadn’t gone off on a Friday afternoon during Norway’s summer holidays. PHOTO: Arbeids- og sosialdepartementet
We soonbegan being showered by dust, debris and fragments of glass. I remember all the small pieces of paper that flew around and landed on us, which turned out to be remnants of the many books and files inside the nearby government complex that literally were blown to shreads. It was no earthquake. “Nina, that was a bomb, and it was close,” said my friend from junior high school days, just before my new mobile phone started ringing.
“Take your friends and head for home,” exclaimed my usually mild-mannered husband, who could see the clouds of smoke and debris from his office window just a few blocks from the other side of the government complex, which had been attacked. It later took him quite a while to get home himself because of police barricades on lots of downtown streets and sidewalks.
Memories like that always come back on July 22, much worse for those who were injured or lost colleagues, family members and especially children from the next attack that came later, on the island of Utøya about an hour’s drive plus ferry ride from Oslo. Even before the attacks ended with the arrest of a right-wing extremist that evening, Norwegians started reacting instinctively. They pulled together, and began placing red roses (the symbol of the Norwegian Labour Party that led the government at the time and was targeted) and other flowers around town.
Windows blew out of the Justice Ministry and prime minister’s office at the government complex, but the tall building is still standing and recently reopened. The building at left (called Y-blokka) was eventually town down, but Picasso’s art on its wall was preserved and remounted on the new building at the site. The historic Finance Ministry building at right survived the blast, but needed some repairs. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
It didn’t take long for the flower power to grow and expand. It was an act of firm defiance to the terrorist, a young Norwegian man who was the son of a Norwegian diplomat but lived with his mother in Oslo’s Skøyen district. Anders Behring Breivik had been a member of Norway’s most right-wing party in Parliament, the Progress Party (Fremskritts partiet, FrP), but didn’t think they were tough enough. He left the party and became a right-wing extremist instead, now serving what’s likely to amount to a life term in prison.
This was the scene on Oslo’s City Hall Plaza just a few days after the blast, when tens of thousands of Norwegians gathered for a rally against terrorism and to take back their city. It was a remarkable outpouring of patriotism and unity, with members of the Royal Family in place and messages of reassurance and gratitude from the Labour prime minister at the time, Jens Stoltenberg, who became more popular than ever and later went on to be secretary general at NATO. Music was provided by some of Oslo’s most cherished singers and songwriters like Ole Paus and Lillebjørn Nilsen. Both have since passed away. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
The flower power continued as Norwegians grieved and came to terms with what had been the worst attack on them since Nazi Germany invaded in World War II. Looking back, that was also tied to ultra-right-wing and racist, anti-Semitic terrorism, the likes of which most Norwegians never thought they’d have to face again. Now the country’s police intelligence agency PST is warning that right-wing extremism is on the rise, and trying to recruit especially young white men. PST (Politiets sikkerhets tjeneste) worries that the right-wing terror threat is growing.
This was the scene outside the Oslo Cathedral not long after the bombing and massacre of Labour Party youth at their own summer camp on Utøya. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
A total of 77 people were killed on July 22, 2011, and hundreds more injured and traumatized. While some survivors of the terror are now government ministers or in other powerful positions, many are still struggling. Ceremonies marking the day and urging Norwegians to uphold their democracy and values are likely to continue as the healing process goes on.
Norwegian government officials, Norway’s king and queen and not least survivors of a right-wing extremist’s deadly attacks on July 22, 2011 gathered once again on Wednesday. They don’t want anyone to forget the terror that hit Norway 15 years ago, especially following a documented increase in hatred and extremists’ threats.
Many survivors of the terrorist attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utøya 15 years ago, along with those who lost loved ones, embraced each other as they listened to the prime minister’s remarks. Another ceremony at the Oslo Cathedral, attended by King Harald and Queen Sonja, followed as did another trip out to the island of Utøya itself later in the day. PHOTO: Franziska Schminke/SMK
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre noted at the outset that July 22 remains one of the year’s most difficult days for many. This year, however, Støre could speak from a newly renovated and reopened government complex in downtown Oslo, which the lone Norwegian terrorist bombed before heading for Støre’s Labour Party’s youth summer camp on the island of Utøya. Once there, dressed in a mock police uniform, the still-jailed Anders Behring Breivik gunned down scores of young party members before surrendering to special forces when they finally arrived on the island.
Breivik killed 77 people that day, and continues to be confined under Norway’s lengthiest prison term. A recent report from the country’s police intelligence agency PST, however, shows an increase in those “inspired” by Breivik’s twin attacks. “The threat from right-wing extremists is greater today than it was in 2011,” wrote PST shortly before the 15-year anniversary observances began.
The July 22 attacks remain the most deadly right-wing extremist attacks in the world in recent times, noted PST (Politiets sikkerhets tjeneste). The security agency added it has “registered” that Breivik’s attacks “to a rising degree” are “motivating players within right-wing extremist landscape.” After examining other cases tied to such extremism, “Breivik’s acts and mindset contribute to increased radicalism,” wrote PST, especially among young men.
Norway’s current finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, was prime minister when the attacks occurred, personally knew many of their victims and led the nation through the initial trauma. He went on to become secretary general of NATO but has never missed the July 22 memorial ceremonies that began in 2012. He returned to government as Støre’s finance minister early last year and is shown here on Wednesday near the new national memorial to July 22 victims that officially went on display during the weekend. PHOTO: Franziska Schminke/SMK
PST also reported that since 2019, those behind right-wing extremist attacks that were both carried out or averted now refer to Breivik more often than they did earlier. Many have gone through a varied radicalizing process that’s not so much based on racial or white supremacist ideology as on their own weaknesses. Fascination with violence and mass-murder like that carried out by Breivik can be as important as right-wing ideology.
This raises a dilemma in Norway, where many leaders, victims and parents of those killed by Breivik on July 22, 2011 still can’t bring themselves to utter his name. He’s mostly been referred to as “the terrorist” or “the mass-murderer,” not as Breivik or a fellow Norwegian. Prime Minister Støre, who was foreign minister at the time of the attacks on his own political party, left Breivik’s name out of his prepared remarks on Wednesday but acknowledged that hatred in extreme circles lingers and, according to PST, is rising.
Støre also stressed that the terrorist attacks 15 years ago were planned in detail and stemmed from right-wing extremist attitudes. Breivik, the son of a Norwegian diplomat, opposed Norway’s fundamental values of human rights, equality, diversity and tolerance. He wrote in a rambling manifesto tied to the attacks that he blamed the Labour Party for allowing, in his view, too many immigrants into Norway.
Merete Stamneshagen, the new leader of the national support group formed after the July 22 attacks, examined the new permanent national memorial called Opprettholdelse (Upholding) before Wednesday’s ceremonies. Created by artist Matias Faldbakken, it consists of a large mosaic featuring a bird species that wades and breeds in the Tyrifjord where Utøya is located. The bird is reflected in the water and Utøya is depicted, and it’s all held up by a steel framework also meant to depict how the government complex has also finally risen from the ruins of the terrorist’s bomb.PHOTO: Niklas Hart/KORO
Støre referred to PST’s new report, especially how it noted that boys and young men can be drawn into “a rough climate, especially in social media, of increased polarization, online abuse, hatred and threats.” He urged everyone to take this seriously, and not let extremism become normal. PST has also urged parents to follow their children’s activity on social media, warning that the terror threat comes largely from those taking part in digital platforms where violence is encouraged amidst humour, gaming and other pop culture. Parents discovering any worrisome online activity were urged to report it to PST.
Støre also stressed, however, that the renovation and reopening of the government offices that Breivik bombed send a signal of defiance against terror, as does the new July 22 memorial and the earlier reopening of Utøya. An expanded July 22 Center at the government complex also reopened on Wednesday, now with more information about the twin attacks and a place where people can gather, talk, share memories and support one another.
The prime minister thinks the new July 22 “monument” also ties the government complex and Utøya together. While the government buildings once again housing six ministries are under heavy security, the outdoor areas are open to the public and meant to be a gathering place of sorts, full of artwork and even fountains to wade in on warm summer days.
“Today, on July 22, 15 years after the attack, it’s good to come together again, talk about the people we lost, and show that we care about one another,” Støre said, “all of you who survived (several Utøya survivors are now serve in his government), those who still suffer, everyone whose lives changed forever. Everyone who still lives with July 22.”
