Erna Solberg

Erna Solberg during the 2009 election campaign

Erna Solberg during a party congress in 2009.

Erna Solberg (born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician, and current leader of the Conservative Party of Norway. She was the Municipal and Regional Minister in Kjell Magne Bondevik's second government, 19 October 2001 until 17 October 2005. In 2005, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of St. Olav.

Early life and education

Solberg was born in Bergen in Western Norway. She obtained an undergraduate degree in sociology, political science, statistics and economics at the University of Bergen in 1986.

Political career

Solberg was a deputy member of Bergen city council in the periods 1979–1983 and 1987–1989, the last period in the executive committee. She chaired local and municipal chapters of the Young Conservatives and the Conservative Party. She was the leader of the nationwide Conservative Women Association from 1994 to 1998, served as deputy leader of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2004 and became party leader in 2004.

She was first elected to the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) from Hordaland in 1989 and has been re-elected on four occasions. From 2001 to 2005 Solberg served as the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development under Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. Her alleged tough policies in this department, including a firm stance on asylum policy, earned her the nickname "Jern-Erna" (Norwegian for "Iron Erna") in the media. However, numbers show that the Bondevik government (2001–2005) actually let in thousands of more asylum seekers than the later centre-left Red-Green government (2005–2009). In 2003, Solberg also proposed to introduce Islamic Sharia Councils in Norway after being informed about the existence of such councils in the United Kingdom, and in 2004 said that she wished increased immigration to Norway.

Mordechai Vanunu controversy

In April 2008, it was revealed that in 2004 Solberg, as Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, rejected Israeli nuclear whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu's request for asylum in Norway. While the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration had been prepared to grant Vanunu asylum, it was suddenly decided that the application could not be accepted because Vanunu had applied for it from outside the borders of Norway. An unclassified document revealed that Solberg and the government considered that extraditing Vanunu from Israel could be seen as an action against Israel and thereby could be considered unfitting the Norwegian government's traditional position as a friend of Israel and political player in the Middle East. Solberg rejected the criticism and defended her decision. [1] [2] [3]

References

• "Erna Solberg" (in Norwegian). Stortinget.no. http://www.stortinget.no/no/Representanter-og-komiteer/Representantene/Representantfordeling/Representant/?perid=ES&tab=Biography. 
• "Erna Solber prevented Vanunu's asylum"
• "Vanunu - Hope that Norway will give me asylum"
• "Vanunu's friends furious - politicians mute"

Political offices
Preceded by Sylvia Brustad	Norwegian Minister of Local Government 2001–2005	Succeeded by Åslaug Haga
Party political offices
Preceded by Jan Petersen	Chairman of the Conservative Party 2004–present	Incumbent