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EXPLAINED: Where does Norway sit politically?

Whether you loathe them or loathe them, politics affect everyday life in one way or another. Here's what you need to know about Norway's political leaning.

Published: 28 September 2022 16:41 CEST
Updated: 19 January 2023 15:45 CET
Pictured is Norway's parliament
The Local spoke to a politics professor on the political leaning of Norway. The Norwegian Parliament is pictured in Downton Oslo, Norway. Photo by Kyree Lien /AFP.

Getting to grips with a new political system and trying to find where your country lies and how that can affect you can be confusing initially So, where does the country lie politically?

Professor Knut Heidar, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Political Science at the University of Oslo, said that Norway could be placed moderately to the left of the political spectrum when compared to the rest of northern Europe. 

“(There is a) broad agreement among the parties about redistribution (of wealth) and an active welfare state. Also, the far-right Progress Party argues for broader state welfare provisions for ‘ordinary people. At the same time, (there is) a broad consensus on providing good opportunities for private enterprise, although (there are) disagreements (between the parties) on taxes,” he explained to The Local. He added that Norway’s political leaning as a country was typical of Scandinavia as a whole. 

Historically, the Labour Party has been Norway’s biggest and most popular political party, with the Conservatives, the country’s largest right-wing party, winning the 2nd or 3rd most seats in parliamentary elections. 

However, Norway is not too far removed from eight years of centre-right government, which included the Progress Party (FRP) for over six of those years. 

The presence of the far-right party in governemnt has had the effect of normalising the populist party as one which could be seen as being part of government- not just in opposition, according to Heidar. 

When asked what impact the Progress Party had while in government, Heidar said: “(It was) small in the overall picture, but they won some symbolic victories. More importantly, (they) moved public debate onto issues that previously had been ‘no-go’ areas.” 

Eventually, though, governmental fatigue would set in for both the Progress Party and Conservative Party and their popularity dipped by the time the 2021 election rolled around. The Conservatives and Progress Party ended up being the two biggest losers on election night, losing nine and six seats respectively. 

The Progress Party would leave governemnt more than a year before the election though. It walked out of government over Norway’s decision to allow a woman linked with the Islamic State terror group back into the country on humanitarian grounds.

What draws voters in Norway to the right? 

Heidar explained that voters of the Conservative Party are typically drawn to its policies on tax and competition between the public and private sector for public services such as health, social services and education.

The political scientist explained that voters of the Progress Party are most concerned with immigration, slashing government red tape, and cutting taxes. 

In this regard, Heidar explained, the Progress Party is similar to other right-wing parties in Scandinavia but that it was less extreme than populist parties in Denmark and Sweden. He added that there was one aspect in which the Progress Party outperformed other parties on the far-right. 

“(They are) also much better in building party organisation and educating their politicians, some of which were much more liberal (in a European sense) than populist,” he said. 

What about the long-term?

The shift from a centre-right to a centre-left government is unlikely to represent a shift in the paradigm or indicate a longer-term trend towards the left. 

Instead, it may simply represent a continuation of the politics and policies that have come before, according to Heidar. 

“No”, the professor said when asked if there was any evidence that Norway could shift further to the right or the left in the longer term. He added that due to serious challenges internationally, the country would likely favour stability over sweeping changes. 

READ ALSO: Why isn’t Norway an EU member?

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POLITICS

Four key things to know about Norway’s revised budget for 2024

The revised national budget was unveiled by the Norwegian government on Tuesday. Here are the key takeaways you need to know about the fiscal plan. 

Published: 14 May 2024 12:50 CEST
Four key things to know about Norway's revised budget for 2024

The government continues to tap the oil fund for public spending 

The current government isn’t the first to use the country’s oil and gas wealth to cover public spending costs. However, the revised budget will take public spending drawn from the oil fund close to the limit. 

Subsequent governments have limited themselves to using 3 percent of the value of the sovereign wealth fund where Norway’s oil and gas revenues are invested to top up public spending. 

The extra 9 billion kroner the government plans to spend from oil revenues will bring the total spending from the fund to nearly 419 billion kroner, which equates to around 2.7 percent of the fund’s value. 

This also means that the use of oil money in Norway will be 34 billion kroner higher this year than last year. 

Norway’s finance minister, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, said that staying under the 3 percent threshold was important for the government. 

“It has been important that we are now under the action rule, even though we are making a heavy defence and security lift. The oil fund must be a generational fund,” he said. 

However, some analysts have previously suggested that the 3 percent limit is too generous and could deplete the fund. 

The increase in oil spending comes after a couple of cautious years where the government tried to limit spending from the fund to curb inflation. 

READ ALSO: Could Norway’s 1.3 trillion dollar oil fund run dry? 

Significant increase in defence spending 

The revised budget’s main focus is increased defence spending. The Norwegian Armed Forces will receive around 7 billion kroner more in defence spending as part of the revised national budget.

In the months leading up to the revised budget, PM Jonas Gahr Støre said that Norway would hit the NATO “two percent target”. 

The two percent refers to member countries allocating at least two percent of their GDP to defence spending. 

Some 2 billion kroner will increase immediate operational capability, while 5 billion would be spent on a long-term defence plan. 

The cost of living increases to ease, but interest rates to remain high

The Norwegian government has noted that the economy had outperformed its expectations and forecasts from last autumn when the initial budget was presented. 

Furthermore, unemployment has remained low at 1.9 percent and the government expects this to rise to 2 percent during the rest of 2024. 

It also expects the consumer price index to rise by 3.9 percent for 2024. The good news for consumers is that a real wage rise, meaning salary increases outpace the cost of living, is looking more likely as the year progresses. 

Looking ahead to 2025, inflation is expected to slow to 2.8 percent. 

Overall, the government expects the mainland economy in Norway to grow by 0.9 percent this year. 

Despite the optimistic outlook from the government, the figures are unlikely to move the needle regarding interest rate cuts. 

Norway’s central bank has brought the key policy rate to a 16-year high of 4.5 percent to curb inflation, and it isn’t expected to cut rates until December at the earliest. 

“Today’s budget gives no reason for Norges Bank to change the interest rate plans, which now point towards an interest rate cut in December,” DNB’s chief economist Kjersti Haugland told public broadcaster NRK.

The government doesn’t have a majority for its budget 

The most interesting side plot of every budget and revised budget is that the minority coalition comprised of the Labour Party and the Centre Party will rely on the support of the Socialist Left Party to get majority support for its proposals. 

This means the budget’s contents usually change throughout negotiations between the government and its budget partner. 

The Socialist Left Party has said it will advocate for an increase in the child benefit for the oldest children and a new tax on oil companies that would fund investment in offshore wind. 

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