Siv Jensen | |
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| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 16 October 2013 –24 January 2020 |
| Part of a series on |
| Liberalism in Norway |
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In August 2021, it was announced that Jensen had accepted to lead an organisation working with drowning prevention initiated by the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue. The umbrella organisation was in June 2022 revealed to be named Flyte. [19] She stepped down from the role in January 2024 in order to become a political advisor. [20]
Jensen has described her party to be a "classical liberal party and also a very democratic party", and that its "basic main focus areas are individual freedom, individual rights, less state and more individual freedom", also that the party is "in favor of more competition instead of less. Because we fight state monopolies because they don't do good for competition, for price levels, for people's ability to choose between different distributors. That's our basic ideology behind the party". [21]
Having been called a "Norwegian Margaret Thatcher" in the British press, Jensen has said she views former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as one of her "political heroes". [22] Considering Thatcher "a controversial politician who dared to stand for something," Jensen has expressed support for Thatcherite policies such as "there is no alternative (to market economy)". [23]
Jensen is a staunch supporter of Israel, and has stated that she is "not afraid to defend Israel's right to defend itself." She visited the Israeli city of Sderot in the summer of 2008 and experienced Hamas bombing first hand, forcing her and her company to run for the air-raid shelter. She strongly opposed the Norwegian government's decision to recognise Hamas as she holds that "you don't negotiate with terrorists, you just don't." [22] Jensen has in addition advocated moving the Norwegian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, while also being open to accepting a future recognition of a Palestinian state. [24]
In January 2009, in light of the Gaza War, she held an appeal at a demonstration called "Let Israel live" in support of Israel in Oslo. The Progress Party's general Israel-policy, supported by the appearance at the demonstration by Jensen and the fact that Christian Democratic Party leader Dagfinn Høybråten had not joined the demonstration, resulted in many Christian Democratic voters turning to the Progress Party. [25] Soon after, the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) went public, fearing that Jensen might be the target of attacks. [26] During the speech, which was held amid the 2008–09 Oslo riots, Jensen and pro-Israel demonstrators were suddenly attacked by violent rioters throwing rocks, and Jensen was forced to leave the podium. [27]
In February 2009, Jensen held a speech where she warned about what she called a "sneaking Islamisation" (snikislamisering) of Norway on the background of a public debate about allowing hijab as part of the police uniform, and demands from Muslim groups of Muslim-only education and special food in prisons. [28] The speech turned out to be highly controversial in the other parties. [29] [30] She used the immigrant-heavy Malmö, Sweden city district of Rosengård to illustrate failed integration policies, claiming that Sharia law had replaced Swedish law and that emergency staff could not drive into certain areas. The statements proved highly controversial in Sweden, and the Progress Party was invited to a tour around Rosengård by the mayor and police chief of Malmö, which it accepted. [31] [32] Jensen did however not join the tour herself. [33]
Further, in March 2009, she stated that the fight against radical Islam "is the most important fight of our time." She said that she, as a classical liberal, would always fight against totalitarian ideas such as communism and National Socialism, and that radical Islam "is a dark and scary ideology." She also accused the other parties of being cowardly, ignoring the questions raised by the Progress Party, and claimed that "it is probably an expression of the fact that they don't understand what's happening in society around them. They close their eyes and try to present themselves as tolerant and liberal, when in fact they are deeply intolerant." [34] Both these controversial statements resulted in large popular gains for the Progress Party, in polls. [34] In response to an incident in early 2010, where thousands of Muslims demonstrated in Oslo, she changed her claim of a "sneak-Islamisation" of Norway, to instead claim that the debate now was of a full-blown Islamisation. [35] [36] During the demonstration (a response to newspaper Dagbladet publishing a Muhammad cartoon in the context of a news story) Islamist Mohyeldeen Mohammad had notably "warned" of a "9/11" or "7/7" in Norway to applause from the crowd. [37]
In December 2008, Jensen questioned the scientific consensus on climate change that climate change is man-made and dangerous, quoting the 1970s global cooling minority conjecture to cast doubt on climate science. Regardless, she is largely supportive of expanding and researching into renewable energy production. [22] In January 2010, she attacked the IPCC, accusing the report from the panel of being based on fraudulent data. She referred to the erroneous statement of Himalayan glaciers melting by 2035, ice melting predictions by Al Gore and Jonas Gahr Støre, questions of statistical sampling, and emails from climate scientists at the Climatic Research Unit. [38]
Besides three half-sisters, [8] Jensen has one younger brother, businessman Tom Einar Jensen, [39] and one younger sister, Nina Jensen, former CEO of WWF. [7] [40] Norway. Her great-grandmother was the early feminist Betzy Kjelsberg. [41] Although she was once engaged, Jensen has never married. [42]
Jensen has stated to be a "proud member of the Church of Norway", while expressing some personal doubt about certain Christian doctrines. She has criticised church leaders for getting too involved in politics, particularly in regard to some church leaders publicly voicing opposition to Norwegian oil drilling. [43] [44]
In 2006, a biography on Siv Jensen was released, written by Martine Aurdal, chief editor of the feminist magazine Fett, later chief editor of the left-wing news magazine Ny Tid . [45]
I den virkelige verden har Frp under Siv Jensen gjort sine beste valg gjennom historien.
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