Jens Stoltenberg
Jens Stoltenberg (Norwegian: [jɛns ˈstɔ̀ɫtn̩bærɡ]; born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has served as the 13th secretary general of NATO, since 2014.[1][2] A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 until 2013.
Jens Stoltenberg
Born in Oslo as the son of the prominent diplomat and politician Thorvald Stoltenberg and politician Karin Stoltenberg (née Heiberg), Stoltenberg attended Oslo Waldorf School and Oslo Cathedral School before graduating with a degree in economics from the University of Oslo in 1987. During his studies, he worked as a journalist, and led Labour's youth wing from 1985 to 1989.
He started his career in government as a state secretary in the Ministry of the Environment in 1990 and was elected to the Storting in 1993. He served as Minister of Industry and Energy from 1993 to 1996 and Minister of Finance from 1996 to 1997. He was prime minister from 2000 to 2001, was leader of the Labour Party from 2002 to 2014, and served as prime minister for a second time from 2005 to 2013. The following year, he was named as the 13th secretary general of NATO, and his term was subsequently extended four times by the NATO heads of state and government.
Stoltenberg has been described as a cautious politician, belonging to the right-wing of social democracy.[3] When he became prime minister in 2000, he was portrayed as the "Norwegian Tony Blair",[4] and his policies were inspired by Blair's New Labour agenda; his first government oversaw the most widespread privatisation by any Norwegian government to that date.[5] Stoltenberg said he was both inspired by and wanted to learn from Blair's policies.[6][7] As the second longest-serving high-ranking official in NATO history, Stoltenberg has worked to expand the alliance into Eastern Europe and to strengthen the alliance's military capabilities in response to the Russo-Ukrainian War, and his tenure coincided with the largest increase in NATO defense spending since the Cold War.
Early life[edit]
Stoltenberg was born 16 March 1959 in Oslo, into the Norwegian Stoltenberg family, the family name derived from Stoltenberg in Schleswig-Holstein where a German ancestor once lived. Jens's father, Thorvald Stoltenberg (1931–2018), was a prominent Labour party politician and diplomat who served as an ambassador, as defence minister and as foreign minister. His mother, Karin Stoltenberg (née Heiberg; 1931–2012), was a geneticist who served as state secretary in multiple governments during the 1980s.[8] Marianne Heiberg, married to former foreign minister Johan Jørgen Holst, was his maternal aunt. Jens lived in SFR Yugoslavia from 1961 to 1964 while his father worked at the Norwegian embassy.[9][10]
Stoltenberg attended primary school at Oslo Waldorf School, and upper secondary school at Oslo Cathedral School. He served his mandatory military service with the Army's Infantry Training Centre at Evjemoen in Aust-Agder. After leaving the army, Stoltenberg enrolled at the University of Oslo, graduating in 1987 with the cand.oecon. degree in economics. The title of his thesis was Makroøkonomisk planlegging under usikkerhet. En empirisk analyse ("Macroeconomic planning under uncertainty. An empirical analysis").[11]
Stoltenberg's first steps into politics came in his early teens, when he was influenced by his sister Camilla, who at the time was a member of the then Marxist–Leninist group Red Youth. Opposition to the Vietnam War was his triggering motivation. Following heavy bombing raids against the North Vietnamese port city of Hai Phong at the end of the Vietnam War, he participated in protest rallies targeting the United States Embassy in Oslo. On at least one occasion embassy windows were broken by stone-throwing protesters. Several of Stoltenberg's friends were arrested by the police after these events.[12]
Journalistic career (1979–1990)[edit]
From 1979 to 1981, Stoltenberg was a journalist for Arbeiderbladet. From 1985 to 1989, he was the leader of the Workers' Youth League. From 1989 to 1990, he worked as an executive officer for Statistics Norway, Norway's central institution for producing official statistics. He also worked part-time as an hourly paid instructor at the University of Oslo during this period. Between 1990 and 1992, he was leader of the Oslo chapter of the Labour Party.
Up to 1990, he had regular contacts with a Soviet diplomat. He ended this relationship after being informed by the Norwegian Police Security Service that his contact was a KGB agent, warning him against further contact. The code name given to Stoltenberg by the KGB was "Steklov".[13][14][15]
United Nations Special Envoy (2013–2014)[edit]
In 2011, Stoltenberg received the United Nations Foundation's Champion of Global Change Award, chosen for his extraordinary effort toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals and bringing fresh ideas to global problems.[60] In 2019, his term as Secretary General of NATO was extended for another two years.[61] Earlier the same year, Stoltenberg had allocated 150 million Norwegian kroner of the foreign aid budget to the same foundation, which led to criticism.[62]
In 2013, Stoltenberg served as a UN special envoy on climate change (global warming), and he chaired the UN High-Level Panel on System Wide Coherence and the High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing.
Post-NATO career aspirations[edit]
Nomination for governorship of the Norges Bank[edit]
In December 2021, it was reported that he sought the governorship of Norges Bank, Norway's central bank.[155]
It was speculated that Stoltenberg would be nominated as Governor of the Norges Bank, which sources told Dagens Næringsliv in November 2021, said he would accept if he was nominated for the position. Stoltenberg's press advisor, Sissel Kruse Larsen, told Dagens Næringsliv that it was still too early to say what Stoltenberg would do once he returns home to Norway.[156] Stoltenberg confirmed on 14 December that he had applied for the position, and specified that he had told the Ministry of Finance that he could not ascend to the position before his term as NATO Secretary-General has expired on 1 October 2022.[157]
His nomination was controversial prior to being officially announced, due to his links to the Labour Party, friendship with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and concerns for the independence of the central bank. His pre-nomination was opposed by all opposition parties, with support only coming from the government parties and the Christian Democratic Party.[158][159]
His appointment was officially announced on 4 February 2022.[160] However, after a NATO summit in March 2022 concerning the war in Ukraine, Stoltenberg accepted a renewed term of one year to continue as NATO secretary-general and thereby resigned as incoming central bank governor. Acting Governor Ida Wolden Bache was instead given the term that Stoltenberg was meant to take on.[161][162]
In popular culture[edit]
Incognito taxi driver in Norway[edit]
In August 2013, Stoltenberg said on his Facebook page that he had spent an afternoon working incognito as a taxi driver in Oslo.[163] Stoltenberg said he had wanted to "hear from real Norwegian voters" and that "taxis were one of the few places where people shared their true views." He added that, before driving the taxi, he had not driven a car in eight years.[163] The event was videotaped in a hidden camera fashion, and released as a promotional video by the Labour party for the election campaign.[164] It was later confirmed that 5 of the 14 customers were paid and recruited by the production company that produced the event for the Labour Party;[165][166] however, none knew that they would meet Stoltenberg.[167][168]
BBC Radio 4 – Desert Island Discs[edit]
On 12 July 2020 Stoltenberg was the invited guest on the long running BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. His musical choices included "Hungry Heart", sung by Bruce Springsteen; "So Long, Marianne", by Leonard Cohen; and "No Harm", by the duo Smerz, one of whom is his daughter Catharina.[169]
In other media[edit]
In the crime drama 22 July, which depicts the 2011 Norway attacks, he is played by actor Ola G. Furuseth.
Controversies[edit]
Stoltenberg participated in protest rallies against the U.S. war in Vietnam in the 1970s.[170] In 2011, Stoltenberg said "We sang the chorus, 'Singing Norway, Norway out of Nato.' It was a hit."[170]
In 2001, Stoltenberg crashed his Labour Party-owned car into a parked car; he then left the premises without leaving a note with his name or number; the damages cost 8000 Norwegian kroner to repair.[171]
In 2002, Stoltenberg admitted to having used hashish (cannabis) in his youth.[172] He therefore asked the Ministry of Justice and Public Security to evaluate his impartiality in the upcoming government response to the report on drugs by the Stoltenberg Commission, headed by his father, Thorvald Stoltenberg.[173]
In 2011 Stoltenberg got a 380,000 kroner boat as a birthday gift from the Norwegian Labour Party and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions; the givers also paid the tax for the gift which led to criticism.[174][175]
Personal life[edit]
Stoltenberg is married to diplomat Ingrid Schulerud and they have two children: a son, Axel Stoltenberg (born 1989) who is studying Chinese at the Shanghai Jiaotong University[176][177] and daughter Anne Catharina Stoltenberg (born 1992) who is a part of Smerz, an experimental pop and electronic music duo signed to XL Recordings.[8][178][179]
He has one living sister, Camilla, a medical researcher and administrator who is one year older than he; and one late sister, Nini, four years younger, who died in 2014. Nini was a recovering heroin addict, and the Norwegian media have covered the family's efforts to cope with this challenge.[180]
He prefers to spend his summer vacations at his family's cottage on the Hvaler Islands in the Oslofjord.[181] An avid outdoorsman, he rides his bike often and during the winter season he is an active cross-country skier.[182] In December 2011, in order to mark 100 years since Roald Amundsen reached the south pole on skis, Stoltenberg journeyed to Antarctica.[183]
Although being portrayed as an atheist for most of his adult life, and declining membership in the formerly official Church of Norway,[184] Stoltenberg has stated that he does not consider himself an atheist. He explained: "Although I am not a member of any denomination, I do believe that there is something greater than man. Some call it God, others call it something else. For me, it's about understanding that we humans are small in relation to nature, in relation to the powers that are bigger and stronger than man can ever comprehend. I find that in a church."[185]