Former NATO chief Stoltenberg named Norway’s finance minister

Jens Stoltenberg, whose term as secretary general of NATO ended last year, took up this new position in a Labour government on Tuesday.

Former NATO chief Stoltenberg named Norway’s finance minister
Jens Stoltenberg, whose term as secretary general of NATO ended last year, took up this new position in a Labour government on Tuesday.

Former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday, February 4, was named Norway’s new finance minister, taking on the key role with a possible transatlantic trade war looming on the horizon as the Labour government lags in the polls.

“I didn’t plan to be here,” the 65-year-old Stoltenberg told reporters as he took possession of his new office at the finance ministry. When his close friend Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store offered him the job last week, “the only correct answer was yes,” he added. Speaking of the risk of a trade war, he stressed the importance of “doing everything we can to protect ourselves against the creation of trade barriers against Norway.”

Stoltenberg was Norwegian prime minister between 2000 and 2001 and again from 2005 to 2013, before serving as NATO secretary general between 2014 and 2024, when he developed good ties with Donald Trump during the US president’s first term.

His appointment as finance minister comes after the collapse of Norway’s coalition government last week, when the junior Centre party quit the government. The eurosceptic party disagreed with Labour’s intention to implement EU energy directives. The move left the Labour Party alone in government with a very weak minority in parliament, and meant that Store had to find eight new ministers to fill empty positions in his cabinet.