Norway's new centre-right government faces tough coalition talks

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

Norway's centre-right opposition, promising tax cuts and smaller government, is set to win Monday's election, but faces tough talks on forming a coalition with a populist party that wants to spend more of the nation's vast oil wealth.

The Conservatives, led by likely future prime minister Erna Solberg and three potential allies, were on course to collect 96 seats in parliament, 11 more than needed for a majority, leaving prime minister Jens Stoltenberg's Labour and its allies with just 73 seats, government projections showed.
...
The trickiest task for Solberg, nicknamed "Iron Erna" for her tough stances when she served in cabinet between 2001 and 2005, will be to negotiate a coalition deal with Progress while maintaining the support of two smaller centrist parties.

Although Progress has toned down its rhetoric, it is seen by some as too radical for government, and once had among its members Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011 in a gun and bomb attack targeting Labour.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/10/norway-government-coalition-solberg

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More on 'Progress':

Progress will be the focus of attention if it wins power. Mrs Solberg has said that she is prepared to form a coalition with the party despite its stance on immigration. Asked about the presence of immigrant Roma beggars on the streets of Oslo, Progress’s leader, Ms Jensen, replied: “Put them on a bus and cart them back to the Balkans.”

Breivik, 34, was a member of Progress in his youth, but later left the organisation because he considered it was not militant enough.

Progress’s popularity nose-dived in the aftermath of Breivik’s massacres but it has since toned down its radical anti-Islamic rhetoric and tried to present itself as a party of government. Polls have shown that Progress appeals to one in seven of Norway’s voters.

The party has exploited the criticism levelled at Mr Stoltenberg’s government for its failure properly to equip the police. It has accused Labour of insufficiently funding other key areas including social welfare and infrastructure.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norway-election-antiimmigrant-party-with-links-to-mass-murderer-anders-behring-breivik-set-to-win-seats-as-labour-prime-minister-jens-stoltenberg-stands-down-8805649.html

[pampango]

1. "...the imminent prospect of Progress entering government has alarmed the handful of Utoya survivors

who ran as Labour candidates.

“Some of their prominent figures still use very strong anti-immigrant rhetoric,” said 29-year-old Vegard Groslie-Wennesland, who witnessed Breivik’s Utoya massacre. “That sort of rhetoric will create a more hostile environment,” he added.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norway-election-results-antiimmigrant-party-with-links-to-mass-murderer-anders-behring-breivik-set-to-enter-government-under-conservative-leader-erna-solberg-8805649.html

Immigration to Norway was 55,300 in 2012 a record high. (A comparable figure for the US would be 3,500,000 annual immigrants. The actual number is a little over 1,000,000.) That will undoubtedly change now that a conservative government (particularly since the far-right Progress Party will be part of the government) is replacing the liberal one.

Thanks for the OP, muriel_volestrangler.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. They going to ruin this little country too?

Shame.

[iandhr]

4. I am guessing center-right in Norway is to the left of the US Dems.

They would still be for single-payer healthcare and the top tax rate would still probably be above 50% if they get there tax cut.

[Posteritatis]

5. Centre-right in Norway is probably communist by US standards

Still sucks, of course, but there's a lot of different types of 'conservative' out there. Hell, in Canada it even depends on whether you're talking federal or provincial.

That said, if they need three other parties to form a government they're not exactly running with a free hand.

[Wolf Frankula]

6. They'll Find Them

There are always 'coalition whore' parties who want to be in the government and don't care how they get there.

Wolf

[blkmusclmachine]

3. Norway joins the Bankruptcy Pact,

small gov't/low taxes is code for TOO BIG TO FAIL