Photo: Francois Walschaerts / EPA
Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has become Norway’s new finance minister following a government reorganisation on Tuesday. Stoltenberg was appointed to the new post by Prime Minister Jonas Støre. He said he was “deeply honoured” to have the opportunity to help his country at a “critical time”, Politico reported.
Stoltenberg, 65, is an economist by training and served as prime minister of Norway in 2000-2001 and 2005-2013. He also served as NATO chief for ten years. During this period, Stoltenberg gained a reputation as “Trump’s whisperer” when he convinced the US president to keep the country in NATO despite his criticisms of allied defence spending.
In previous years, Stoltenberg also served as Norway’s finance minister and initiated the so-called “spending rule”, which restricts the use of more than 4% of the country’s sovereign wealth fund for the national budget, later reduced to 3%.
These changes come amid political instability in Norway, after a centre-left party quit the government over disputes over EU energy policy, leaving the ruling centre-left party without a partner.
