Listhaug was born in Ålesund.[3] She was raised on the family farm in Ørskog,Møre og Romsdal,to which she has odelsrett.[4] Her father worked with transportation,while her mother ran the family farm. She has two twin siblings.[5]
In 1995 Listhaug began to work as a care assistant at the Ørskog home for the elderly,and from 1996 to 2000 she studied history,social sciences,and special education at the Volda University College,and continued to work at the Ørskog home to support herself during her student years. In 2000 she graduated and qualified as a teacher,and from 2000 to 2001 she worked as a teacher at the Sjøholt school in Ørskog.[6]
Political career
Early career and parliament
Listhaug began her political involvement locally in Ørskog.[7] She has held several positions within the Progress Party and its youth organisation Progress Party's Youth since 1998,and has been a member of the Progress Party central board since 2005.[3] She worked as political advisor and aide to the Progress Party's parliamentary group from 2001 to 2004.[3] In 2005 she had a stay abroad as an intern in the United States House of Representatives.[6] She has been a deputy representative in the Norwegian parliament from Møre og Romsdal (2001 to 2009),and from Oslo (2009 to 2013),with a total 95 days of parliamentary session served. She was elected as a parliamentary representative for the first time in 2017 (from Møre og Romsdal).[8]
Oslo city commissioner
Listhaug was appointed city commissioner (byråd) of welfare and social services in the city government of Oslo in 2006,having been secretary to the previous commissioner Margaret Eckbo. Listhaug spearheaded a number of reforms as commissioner,introducing free choice in home care,and reintroducing senior homes in her first year. She stated as her goals more competition and better nursing homes,and opening for more private companies.[9]
In 2009 she became the subject of a nursing home funding scandal,after it was revealed that a company that had been granted a total amount of 23,5 million NOK from Oslo municipality to build nursing homes for Norwegians in Altea,Spain had not yet even been granted a Spanish construction permit.[10][11] Listhaug claimed she was not responsible for the plans,which were designed to make Oslo a prime example for other municipalities in regards to care for the elderly.[12][13] Listhaug told reporters from the state broadcaster NRK in March 2010 that she did “not have the responsibility for the construction of the nursing home nor authoring the contracts.”[14]
Other proposals by Listhaug as city commissioner included a stricter policy on psychiatric patients,[15] and putting up posters of convicted rapists in their local community.[16] Before the gay parade in Oslo in 2009,Listhaug suggested to some controversy that "half and almost wholly naked people dancing around in the streets of Oslo" could rather lead to less tolerance of homosexuals,thus working against its goal,although she made clear that homosexuals should be able to party "when and where they want".[17]
Political consultant
From 2012 until her cabinet appointment,Listhaug had worked as a senior consultant with First House,[6] a Norwegian strategic advisory,corporate communications,governmental affairs and crisis management/issue management agency. Shortly after her appointment,media attention centered on her decision to keep secret her list of clients during her time in the job.[3] The list of public clients was made public in early 2014 after Listhaug herself declared a personal conflict of interest.[18]
On 16 October 2013 Listhaug was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Food in the new Solberg Cabinet.[19][6] The Solberg government signalled a drastic change of course in Norwegian agricultural policy by opening for more freely sale and purchase of farms,and seeking a development towards more sustainable fewer and bigger farms.[3] Listhaug as Minister of Agriculture sought to remove laws which require farm-owners to live on the farm. Listhaug argued her changes would lead to a more efficient food production in Norway,ultimately reducing high food prices. She also lowered government subsidies to farmers,who receive one of the highest government subsidies in the world,according to the OECD.[20][21] As an example,Norwegian farmers receive over 50% of their farm income as government support,while the equivalent number for U.S. farmers is 8%.[22][23]
As Listhaug in 2010 had called the Norwegian agricultural policy a "communist system" in an op-ed,this received widespread attention in media and social media.[24] After being pressured with the comment in a television debate,she stated her intent on following the new government's policy agreement.[25] Prior comments by Listhaug and the new government's course was met with scepticism and protest among some farmers.[3]
During her time as Minister of Agriculture and Food,Listhaug had,somewhat controversially,contacts with clients of First House,including the farmers' organization Norges Bondelaget,the NHO employers' organization unit representing food and beverage firm,the brewing organization Bryggeriforeningen,and supermarket chain Rema 1000,one of her last clients for First House before she joined the government herself.[26]
Minister of Immigration (2015–18)
On 16 December 2015 Listhaug was appointed Minister of Immigration and Integration,a newly formed cabinet position under the Ministry of Justice and Public Security,amid the European migrant crisis and record-high numbers of asylum seekers in Norway that resulted in a broad parliamentary agreement to tighten asylum regulations.[27][28] The month prior to her appointment Listhaug criticised what she described as a "tyranny of goodness" haunting the Norwegian immigration debate,and that it would be more Christian and reasonable to help as many people as possible through foreign aid to refugees abroad rather than aiding fewer and more costly asylum seekers in Norway.[28][29] She later vowed that her proposed asylum regulations would make Norway's asylum policies "one of the strictest in Europe".[30][31][32]
The first four months of 2016 saw asylum applications in Norway drop to its lowest levels since 1993,with only about 250 new applications each month.[33][34] The reduction resulted in at least kr 800 million (US$100 million) being saved in direct asylum reception costs alone in the revised annual state budget,amid budget strains due to the low oil price.[35] Listhaug has since called for further immigration and asylum restrictions to be implemented,particularly in family reunifications which reached all-time highs of about 20,000 in 2017.[36][37] Among her proposals is that family reunifications should rather be achieved in the native countries of immigrants instead of in Norway.[38]
Opinion polls consistently showed Listhaug to have the highest approval rating of all government ministers from her party,and several others.[39] In September 2016,a poll showed that 59% of Norway's population approved of her work on immigration,with less than a quarter disapproving.[40]
In August 2017,a row took place between Listhaug and Sweden's political establishment after Listhaug planned a visit to the Swedish suburb of Rinkeby in the context of the country's vulnerable areas,having warned during her time as minister about the need to avoid "Swedish conditions" in Norway. Although meeting with other Swedish officials,Sweden's Minister for Migration Heléne Fritzon cancelled her scheduled meeting with Listhaug,saying she would not be part of an "election campaign" in the run-up to the Norwegian parliamentary election in September.[41][42][43]
Minister of Justice (2018)
Sylvi Listhaug and the Solberg Cabinet presented after change of ministers.
After securing renewed support for the centre-right coalition in the 2017 parliamentary election,Listhaug was appointed Minister of Justice,Public Security and Immigration in January 2018,absorbing her former cabinet position following a government re-shuffle.[44] As Minister of Justice,Listhaug “waged a war”against pedophile perpetrators,both internationally and domestically. Listhaug introduced new legislation which would remove the passports from pedophiles committing assaults abroad,and it caused controversy when she unapologetically referred to these individuals as “monsters.”[45][46][47]
In March 2018 Listhaug posted a Facebook message claiming that the Labour Party "cares more about the rights of terrorists than national security" following disagreement on a parliamentary vote about whether the state should be able to withdraw the citizenship of threats to national security. After insisting for several days amid criticism that no apology was warranted other than stating regret if offending anyone,the government led by Prime Minister Solberg,and eventually Listhaug herself apologised for the post in parliament. As Listhaug's initial apology was considered "not good enough" by Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre,this caused the opposition,including Labour and the Centre Party to state their support for a motion of no confidence pushed by the Red Party. The day before the vote on 20 March,the Christian Democrats also concluded they would support the motion,thereby indicating a parliamentary majority for the motion of no confidence.[48][49][50][51] Listhaug resigned herself in the morning before the parliamentary session.[52][53]
After eight years of decreasing membership numbers,the Progress Party received 5,350 new members,making up 25 percent of the party's total membership following the conflict.[54][55] One opinion poll also briefly showed a doubling of voter support for the party.[56] The new party members were seen by political scientists to make up a new power-base for Listhaug within the party.[54]
First deputy leader (2018–21)
In June 2018,Sylvi Listhaug was nominated by Møre og Romsdal Progress Party as a candidate for first deputy leader of the Progress Party. The party's annual national meeting will constitute a new deputy leader on 3 September 2018,in order to replace Per Sandberg. State broadcaster NRK reported in August 2018 that Listhaug likely will be elected by the central board.[57] Listhaug told reporters in Arendal:"I am humbled and honored to be mentioned as a deputy leader candidate",and added “I am ready to serve if the party wants me in such a role."[58][59]
On 3 September 2018,the Progress Party's Central Board unanimously voted to constitute Listhaug as acting first deputy leader of the party. The formal election took take place during the party's national convention in May 2019.[60]
Minister of the Elderly and Public Health (2019)
Sylvi Listhaug was appointed Minister for the elderly and public health on 3 May 2019 in Erna Solberg's coalition government. She was minister in the Ministry of Health and Care Services alongside Health Minister Bent Høie.[61][62]
On 6 May 2019,she sparred controversy when she,newly appointed as the new health minister,told reporters from NRK:"People should be allowed to smoke,drink and eat as much red meat as much as they want. The authorities may like to inform,but people know pretty much what is healthy and what is not healthy,I think." The secretary general of the Norwegian Cancer Society,Anne Lise Ryel,said Listhaug's comments were “potentially harmful to public health.”[63][64]
Minister of Petroleum and Energy (2019–20)
On 18 December 2019,Listhaug assumed office as the Minister of Petroleum and Energy.[65][66] In January 2020,she and the rest of Progress Party ministers withdrew from the government after a dispute over the return of an IS woman and her children. Listhaug was subsequently replaced by Tina Bru on 24 January when her party had formally left the government,and returned to opposition.[67][68] Her tenure as Minister of Petroleum and Energy is the shortest in Norwegian history since Grete Faremo in 1996.[69]
Party leader (2021–)
Following Siv Jensen's resignation as party leader,the party designated Listhaug as their leader. She had previously accepted to become leader shortly after Jensen’s resignation,and was officially elected at the party conference in May.[70] She was elected party leader at the party convention on 8 May 2021,with Ketil Solvik-Olsen and Terje Søviknes as first and second deputy leaders respectively.[71]
Listhaug had prior to her party leadership been called a "rising star" in the Progress Party by both national and international media,[72][73][54][74] and had been mentioned by former long-time party chairman Carl I. Hagen as a candidate to succede Siv Jensen as party leader.[75][76][77]
Listhaug lead her party into the 2021 election,campaigning for increased petroleum activity and against the left’s environmental policies. Her party ended up losing 6 seats in the Storting,decreasing their seat count to 21.[78]
In November,shortly after the resignation of Eva Kristin Hansen,Listahug went out against Storting Director Marianne Andreassen after her responses to her questions about parliamentary apartments. She described some of Andreassen’s answers as informative,but that others would be worth looking more into. Listahug also demanded more detailed answers when it came to if the apartment rules could be punishable if broken.[79]
Political views
Sylvi Listhaug in 2009.
Listhaug believes that the elderly should have legal rights to a place in private nursing homes paid by public funding. She has advocated "zero tolerance" on crime,more visible police,and said that integration has to become better by having stricter demands on people who move to Norway,combined with a more restrictive immigration policy.[80]
Although a lifelong Christian,Listhaug has considered leaving the Church of Norway which she has described as "thoroughly socialist",[28] due to the former Red-Green government's interventionist policy on appointment of bishops,as well as church leaders in her view voicing political opinions on too many issues.[81] Favoring a separation of church and state,she has pointed to it "working well" in the United States.[82] She has been a repeat guest on the Christian television channel Visjon Norge.[83]
Listhaug is in favor of immigrant repatriation from Norway. She has advocated voluntary return,in her role as Integration Minister,for rejected asylum seekers and other migrants.[84] She has stated that Norway needed to "entice more [people] to voluntarily travel back" to their homelands,[85] claiming it was "better for us to encourage them to travel back",rather than face deportation and would ultimately save Norway money.[86] During her government tenure,record numbers of illegal immigrants were simultaneously deported from Norway.[87] Listhaug has stated her position that "I think those who come to Norway need to adapt to our society. Here we eat pork,drink alcohol and show our face. You must abide by the values,laws and regulations that are in Norway when you come here."[81] Her proposals includes calling for a ban on the hijab in elementary schools.[88]
Listhaug is a proponent of banning full-face veils and hijabs in elementary schools,arguing that “we need to fight the culture of social control and controlling women.”[89] She is a proponent of barring hate preachers from entering Norway.[90][91]
She is noted for her hard-line immigration policy.[92] As Minister of Migration and Integration,Listhaug presented a 150-page document with 40 proposals for new asylum- and migration regulations,in which she claimed would make Norway's migrant policy “one of the strictest in Europe.”The proposals,which failed to summon necessary parliamentary support in June 2016,included proposals such as:[93]
Changed ID clarification procedures;
Simplifying the process for the refusal of asylum applications;
Introducing temporary protection until age 18 for unaccompanied minors;
Easier deportation of persons whose applications are supposedly unfounded;
Stricter integration criteria for permanent residency;
Tighter restrictions on right to family reunification.
The proposal also included procedures which would allow detaining migrants who submit “obviously groundless asylum claims”for up to 72 hours,in order to prevent them from evading deportation. Speaking to state broadcaster NRK,Sylvi Listhaug said:“We can see that unfounded asylum seekers disappear while the police are processing their applications. This will prohibit them from running off and eventually getting involved in criminal activity. Now we will know where we have them,get their applications processed and then return them.”Minister Listhaug added that 90 out of 537 asylum seekers processed under the 48-hour procedure in 2015 disappeared,and that the locations of ninety percent of those still remain unknown to authorities.[94][95] The proposals also would expand the ability of law enforcement agencies to store and acquire biometric information such as fingerprints,in order to determine whether an asylum applicant may present a security threat.[96]
Sweden's Migration Minister Heléne Fritzon canceled a meeting due to be held with Sylvi Listhaug in August 2017,claiming that Listhaug spread an “inaccurate image of Sweden.”Listhaug had said in an interview with Verdens Gang that “parallel societies have developed in more than 60 places in Sweden”,calling them “no-go zones”,while insisting that there are conditions of lawlessness in some areas with large quantities of people with immigrant backgrounds.[97][98]
Law and order
As Minister of Justice,Listhaug received criticism and praise for calling pedophile perpetrators “monsters.”[99] Listhaug announced more legislative changes to stop pedophiles committing assaults abroad,and told reporters:“It is absolutely terrible to think that these monsters are allowed to leave our country and travel to places where poor families and poor children are exploited in the worst way.”Listhaug added that “we must do whatever we can to stop them.”She is a proponent of stripping these individuals of their passports when sentenced for this type of abuse,not allowing them to leave the country.[100][101]
She has advocated for "zero tolerance" on crime and called for more visible police,primarily in the capital of Oslo.[102] She has advocated for stricter punishments and harsher prison sentencing,particularly for crimes against children. Listhaug is opposed to capital punishment.[103][104]
Agricultural policy
Listhaug was Minister of Agriculture and Food from 2013 to 2015,and implemented new agricultural policies signaling a drastic change of course. The new policies allowed for more free sales- and purchases of farms,while also seeking fewer and bigger,sustainable farms.[3] As minister,she lowered government payments to farmers,who receive one of the highest levels of government subsidies in the world,according to the OECD. During her tenure,the department also sought to scrap the law which makes it a duty to live on the farm. The changes could lead to larger farms and a more efficient food production,which the department argued would reduce the country's high food prices.[20]
Foreign policy
A strong supporter of Israel with her study trip to the country during her teacher studies,Listhaug has voiced support for moving the Norwegian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.[82]
Listhaug told reporters in 2017 that European nations "and their citizens need to understand the situation in Israel better",and added that "the Progress Party has always been a supporter of Israel's need to protect themselves in a region where you are the only democracy." She made it clear that the party does not necessarily support everything the State of Israel does,but stated that "you have a right to defend your people and your borders because you live in a region that has a lot of problems."[1]
Listhaug endorsed the Sweden Democrats party during the 2022 Swedish general election,becoming the first Progress Party leader to do so,and supports their policies on immigration but has stated that she was not looking to build an official alliance with the party due to differences in economic policy.[110]
Sylvi Listhaug received the highest approval rating of all government ministers from her party during her tenure as Minister of Immigration. An August 2016 poll by Ipsos for Dagbladet showed her job approval rating in the general population at 59%,up from 55% in May.[113][114][115]
Personal life
Listhaug is married to fellow Progress Party politician Espen Espeset,and together they have one daughter and two sons.[116][117][118] Raised on the family farm in Ørskog in Sunnmøre,Listhaug currently resides in Oslo.
The Progress Party, is a political party in Norway. The FrP has traditionally self-identified as classical-liberal and as a libertarian party but is generally positioned to the right of the Conservative Party, and is considered the most right-wing party to be represented in parliament. It is often described as right-wing populist, which has been disputed in public discourse, and has been described by academics as far-right. By 2020, the party attained a growing national conservative faction. After the 2017 parliamentary election, it was Norway's third largest political party, with 26 representatives in the Storting. It was a partner in the government coalition led by the Conservative Party from 2013 to 2020.
Erna Solberg is a Norwegian politician and the current Leader of the Opposition. She served as the 35th prime minister of Norway from 2013 to 2021, and has been Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004.
Per Sandberg is a Norwegian politician for the Capitalist Party and formerly the Progress Party who served as the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries from 2015 to 2018. Sandberg was a member of the Norwegian parliament from 1997 to 2017, and served as chair of the parliamentary standing committees on Justice, and Transport and Communications. He has additionally held the position of first deputy leader of the Progress Party from 2006 to 2018. In 1997 he was convicted of assault and battery of an asylum seeker. His status as a convicted felon has made him controversial in Norwegian politics.
Terje Søviknes is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party who has served as the mayor of Bjørnafjorden since 2023. He previously served as minister of petroleum and energy from December 2016 to August 2018. From December 2019 to January 2020 he was the minister of the elderly and public health. He also serves as the party's second deputy leader since 2019, a post he previously held from 1999 to 2001.
In Norway, the Minister of Justice and Public Security is the head of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police and a member of Government of Norway. The current minister is Emilie Enger Mehl.
Siv Jensen is a Norwegian who served as the leader of the Progress Party from 2006 to 2021. She also held the position as Minister of Finance from 2013 to 2020 in the Solberg Cabinet. She was also a member of the Norwegian parliament from Oslo from 1997 to 2021.
Christian Tybring-Gjedde is a Norwegian politician who represents the Progress Party. He has been a member of the Norwegian parliament since 2005, and was the leader of the Progress Party's Oslo chapter from 2010 to 2014.
Anders Anundsen is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party who served as Minister of Justice from 2013 to 2016. He was also a member of the Norwegian parliament, representing Vestfold from 2005 to 2017.
Tor Mikkel Wara is a Norwegian politician from the Progress Party, who has served as Justice and Immigration Minister from 2018 to 2019 after the resignation of Sylvi Listhaug.
Ketil Solvik-Olsen is a Norwegian politician of the Progress Party. He served as the party's first deputy leader from 2021 to 2023. He also served as Minister of Transport and Communications from 2013 to 2018 and as the party's second deputy leader from 2013 to 2019.
Per-Willy Trudvang Amundsen is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party who served as Minister of Justice from December 2016 to January 2018. He previously served as state secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development from 2013, and represented Troms in the Norwegian parliament from 2005 until 2013. He was re-elected in 2017.
Mazyar Keshvari is an Iranian-born Norwegian former politician for the Progress Party and a convicted felon who is serving two prison sentences for fraud and violent threats. He was elected as a substitute member of the Norwegian parliament for the city of Oslo in 2013, representing the right-wing and anti-immigration Progress Party, and attended parliamentary sessions from 2013 to 2018 as the substitute of the mandate holder Siv Jensen who has been on leave from parliament during her government service. As a politician he was known for taking a hard stance on immigration, calling for a complete ban on further immigration to Norway, a stop to the practice of accepting asylum seekers in Norway, and the deportation of immigrants convicted of crimes. In 2019 he was convicted of aggravated fraud for defrauding the Norwegian parliament and in 2020 he was sentenced to 11 months imprisonment. He left the Norwegian parliament following his indictment in 2018 and also left the Progress Party in October 2019. In 2019 he was also arrested and charged with making violent threats, and he was convicted and sentenced to an additional four months in prison in 2020.
The Minister of Health and Care Services is a councilor of state and chief of the Norway's Ministry of Health and Care Services. Since 19 April 2024 the position has been held by Jan Christian Vestre of the Labour Party. The ministry is responsible for healthcare and care services, with the state's healthcare activities being carried out by four regional health authorities. Major institutions subordinate to the ministry include the Directorate for Health, the Board of Health Supervision, the Institute of Public Health, the Medicines Agency, the Radiation Protection Authority, the Labour and Welfare Service and the Food Safety Authority.
Guri Melby is a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. She has served as the party leader since 2020 and Minister of Education from 2020 to 2021. She is also a member of parliament for Oslo since 2021, having previously been a deputy member for the same constituency between 2013 and 2021. Locally, she has also served as Oslo's City Commissioner for Transport and the Environment between 2013 and 2015.
First House is a Norwegian strategic advisory, corporate communications, governmental affairs and crisis management/issue management agency.
The Solberg Cabinet was the government of the Kingdom of Norway, headed by Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg as Prime Minister from 16 October 2013 to 14 October 2021. The government was appointed by King Harald V on 16 October 2013 following the parliamentary election on 9 September, consisting of the Conservative Party and the Progress Party as a minority government. On 16 December 2015, the cabinet was re-shuffled. The government secured renewed support following the 2017 parliamentary election. It was expanded on 14 January 2018, when an agreement was reached to include the Liberal Party, and further expanded on 22 January 2019 when the Christian Democratic Party joined the coalition. On 20 January 2020, the Progress Party announced that it would withdraw from the government, citing the decision to bring home the family of a sick child from Syria, which included the child's mother, a Norwegian citizen who had volunteered for the Islamic State.
Helge André Njåstad is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party. He has served as a member of the Storting for Hordaland since 2013. He also served as mayor of Austevoll from 2003 to 2013.
Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 11 September 2017 to elect all 169 members of the unicameral Norwegian Parliament, the Storting. The non-socialist parties retained a reduced majority of 88 seats, allowing Prime Minister Erna Solberg's Conservative-Progress coalition to remain in government. The Liberal Party joined the coalition in January 2018 but it remained a minority cabinet until the Christian Democratic Party joined the coalition in 2019. The three largest centre-left parties won 79 seats. The Green Party retained its single seat, while the Red Party won its first ever seat.
Une Aina Bastholm is a Norwegian politician and former leader of Green Party. She represented Oslo in the Storting from 2017 to 2021 and during this time was the only member of her party with a parliamentary seat. She was elected to represent Akershus following the 2021 election.
Emilie Enger Mehl is a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party. She has served as minister of justice since 2021 and member of parliament for Hedmark since 2017.
↑ IBP, Inc. (2015). Norway Investment and Business Guide Volume 1 Strategic and Practical Information. Lulu Publications, Inc. Page 35. ISBN9781514530184.
↑ Lundby, Knut (2018). Contesting Religion: The Media Dynamics of Cultural Conflicts in Scandinavia. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. Page 173. ISBN9783110502060.
↑ Fossum, John Erik and Riva Kastoryano (2018). Diversity and Contestations over Nationalism in Europe and Canada. Springer. Page 303. ISBN9781137589873.
1 2 Lundby, Knut (2018). Contesting Religion: The Media Dynamics of Cultural Conflicts in Scandinavia. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. Page 172. ISBN9783110502060.
↑ Ugland, Trygve (2018). Policy Learning from Canada:Reforming Scandinavian Immigration and Integration Policies. University of Toronto Press. Pages 85-86. ISBN9781487503192.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
