Norway: Jens Stoltenberg appointed new finance minister to save the Social Democrats

Brussels – Sometimes they come back. This time, the one who returned was Jens Stoltenberg, the former Norwegian prime minister who, after a decade at the head of the North Atlantic Alliance, has been re-enlisted in the Oslo Executive at the Finance Ministry.

The announcement came yesterday (Feb. 4). The 65-year-old assumed the post of Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Premier Jonas Gahr Støre, who has led the Labor Party (AP) since 2014, following Stoltenberg’s appointment (who had led the party since 2002) as Secretary General of NATO. Stoltenberg said he was “profoundly honored to have been called upon to help my country at this critical stage.”

Gahr Støre formed a minority government in October 2021 in coalition with the Center Party (SP). However, on Jan. 30, SP exited the executive in disagreement with the Social Democrats regarding EU energy market rules. This development “freed up” several ministerial seats, including precisely that of Finance, occupied by SP leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum.

Stoltenberg is a longtime figure in national politics: a member of the Storting (Oslo’s single-chamber parliament) from 1993 to 2017, he was minister (first of Industry and Energy, from 1993 to 1996, then of Finance between 1996 and 1997, and again now) and Minister of State (as the Norwegian premier is called) twice (from 2000 to 2001 and then between 2005 and 2013).

An honour to be appointed as Minister of Finance of Norway in PM @jonasgahrstore government. We face geopolitical challenges & a more uncertain world. Economic stability & prosperity will be my focus.

It’s a privilege to serve my country, and I am ready to play my part. pic.twitter.com/UhGidpC2hT

– Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) February 4, 2025

His terms as Secretary General of NATO – which at the time had 28 member states — began In October 2014, a few months after the unilateral annexation of Crimea (and support for the Donbas separatists) by Vladimir Putin‘s Russia. He was subsequently reappointed four times, given the need to maintain continuity at the helm of the alliance in the face of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by Moscow in February 2022.

In that capacity, he earned the nickname “Trump’s Whisperer” for apparently persuading the US president to not withdraw Washington from NATO during his first term. Last October, he passed the baton of secretary-general to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Norway will hold legislative elections in September. Polls show the Labor Party losing over 7 points (just below 19 percent). The right-wing Progress Party (FrP) (nearly 24 percent) is given in the lead, followed by the conservative Høyre party at 22.4 percent.

Gahr Støre’s call for Stoltenberg thus responds not only to the need to reshuffle the cabinet with high-profile figures but also to the need to reinvigorate the AP campaign ahead of a ballot-box appointment that promises to be particularly difficult, not least given the risk of Oslo becoming a target for trade tariffs from Washington and, potentially, from Brussels as well.