Fish farming relief as Solberg wins again
PRIME Minister Erna Solberg and her right wing allies will govern Norway for another four years after her Conservative Party claimed victory in September’s hard fought general election.
It is a result which will bring relief to Norway’s fish farmers who feared higher taxes and tougher environmental restrictions under Labour.
But it may cause dismay among fishing communities in the north of the country who are battling against expansion plans by the oil industry. They argue that further exploration will permanently damage fish stocks.
At one point it looked as if a left wing alliance might cross the half way barrier in the 169seat Storting (parliament), but Labour lost ground.
Solberg will, however, have to govern with a small but reasonably comfortable majority when the new parliament opens this month. Fisheries minister Per Sandberg, who campaigned hard in fishing constituencies, will stay on in the job.
Thanks, in part, to expansion in aquaculture and conventional fishing, unemployment in Norway is down to 4.4 per cent, robbing Labour of one of its main arguments.