Ine Eriksen Søreide

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Ine Eriksen Søreide

MP
SD meets with Norway’s Minister of Defence 170517-D-SV709-158 (34721980225) (cropped).jpg
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
20 October 2017
Prime MinisterErna Solberg
Preceded byBørge Brende
Minister of Defence
In office
16 October 2013 – 20 October 2017
Prime MinisterErna Solberg
Preceded byAnne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen
Succeeded byFrank Bakke-Jensen
Member of the Norwegian Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 October 2001
ConstituencyOslo
Leader of the Young Conservatives
In office
24 June 2000 – 20 June 2004
Preceded byJohn-Ragnar Aarset
Succeeded byTorbjørn Røe Isaksen
Personal details
Born (1976-05-02) 2 May 1976 (age 45)
Lørenskog, Norway
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)
Øystein Eriksen Søreide
​
​
(m. 2006)​
Alma materUniversity of Tromsø

Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide (born 2 May 1976) is a Norwegian politician serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2017, the first woman to hold the position.[1] Previously, she was the Minister of Defence from 2013 to 2017.[2] A member of the Conservative Party, she was elected in 2005 as a member of the Storting for Oslo. Søreide was appointed Norway's Foreign Minister on 20 October 2017.[3] She succeeded Børge Brende.[4]

Career[]

Born in Lørenskog in 1976, Søreide studied law at the University of Tromsø, while at university she joined the Conservative Party and got involved in local politics. In 2000 she became a member of the Conservative Party Central Executive Committee and Chairman of the Norwegian Young Conservatives. Eriksen Søreide started work as a producer at Metropol TV, she was also elected a Deputy Member of the Storting for Oslo. Following Metropol's closure Eriksen Søreide joined Grette Law Firm as a trainee. She was elected to Parliament in the 2001 election, and was re-elected in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017.

Minister of Defence[]

After the election victory following the 2013 election, Søreide was appointed minister of defence in the Solberg cabinet.

In an interview in connection with the Crimean crisis in 2014, Søreide called for higher armaments efforts from all European NATO states.[5]

In the summer of 2013, while Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen was still Minister of Defence, the Storting decided to introduce gender-neutral conscription in the Norwegian Armed Forces, and it was introduced in 2015 under Søreide's leadership.[6]

In February 2017, ahead of the NATO summit in May, Søreide expressed that it wasn’t realistic to reduce two percent of BNP on defence spending in the 20 year period given. This goal was never reached during her tenure, though the defence spending did increase year by year.[7]

Minister of Foreign Affairs[]

Following the 2017 election, Søreide was appointed minister of foreign affairs, succeeding Børge Brende, who had been appointed president of the World Economic Forum. She was also the first female to be appointed to the position.

In January 2019, Søreide expressed support for the Norwegian participation in the Libya conflict, and called the right call to make, but was critical to the lack of planning of the participation’s aftermath. She also stated that “enough wasn’t done to stabilise Libya after the military participation”.[8]

In January 2020, the news came that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government decided in the autumn of 2019 to bring home a Norwegian, a presumably terminally ill boy. The case was controversial because both the sister and the mother were accused of terrorism and was also brought back to Norway. This was an alternative no one wanted, the government had said they would bring Norwegian children home if requested, but in this case it was not possible. In the end, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the majority of the government made the decision to bring them home, which triggered an assessment in the Progress Party's national board about thee party's government participation where they concluded to withdraw from the government.[9] Søreide stated that the decision was made on humanitarian grounds and knowledge that was the basis for an assumed sick child.[10]

In August 2020, Søreide's spokeswoman, Trude Maaseide, said that an unnamed Russian diplomat working at the trade section of the Russian embassy in Oslo was expelled for linking to the case of a man jailed on the accusation of spying for Russia.[11] It appeared the expelled diplomat was the Russian intelligence officer that Norwegian authorities said was meeting with the suspected spy (a Norwegian citizen) in an Oslo restaurant when he was arrested.[11]

Søreide hailed the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as a positive development and said Norway welcomed any move that led toward peace in the Middle East.[12]

In January 2021, following the Trump Administration’s decision to list Cuba as a country that promotes terrorism, Søreide expressed criticism of the move and called it “regrettable”. She also cited the peace negotiations in Colombia with the nation, and that “the American administration now made sure to put a toll on Cubans with the negotiators being unable to leave Cuba”.[13]

Following the passing of an anti-LGBT law in Hungary in June 2021, Søreide criticised the law, stating "the law is one of the worst examples we have seen in recent times, and an example of the country continuing on the path away from the rule of law and democracy. Here, a prime minister and a government present a law that connects homosexuality with pedophilia, it is completely insane". She further expressed concern that multiple countries were heading in the wrong direction when it comes to LGBT rights, adding "same-sex love is punishable in 69 countries, it also creates a climate of hatred and prejudice against gay and queer people".[14]

In July, Søreide released a statement where she pointed to China for being responsible for a computer breach leaking emails at the Storting that occurred in March, saying “After a thorough review of our intelligence information, it is our assessment that the very serious data breach against the Storting was carried out from China. Several of our allies, the EU and Microsoft have also confirmed this”.[15]

After the Taliban started to take back control of cities in Afghanistan, Søreide announced at a press conference in August 2021 that Norway would be temporarily closing its embassy in Kabul. She emphasised concerns over the growing violence in the country as a result of Taliban’s increased activity.[16]

A week before the 2021 election, Søreide expressed concerns about the country’s relation with NATO and the EU should the Red Party gain influence to affect a possible red-green government. Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre rebuffed her concerns and specified that “for the Labour Party to head a government, EEA and NATO relations and responsible economic control has to be the basis”.[17]

Storting committees[]

  • 2009–2013: Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence
  • 2005–2009: Chair of the Standing Committee on Education, Research and Church Affairs
  • 2001–2005: member of the Standing Committee on Education, Research and Church Affairs

References[]

  1. ^ "Norway Gets A Female Foreign Minister First Time in History - The Nordic Page". The Nordic Page. 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  2. ^ "Norway: new strategy to prevent flow of fighters to Iraq, Syria". World Bulletin News desk. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  3. ^ Ask, Alf Ole (2017-10-20). "Tre bytter i Regjeringen – Ine Eriksen Søreide første kvinnelige utenriksminister" (Norwegian). Aftenposten. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  4. ^ "Norway Gets A Female Foreign Minister First Time in History - The Nordic Page". The Nordic Page. 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  5. ^ "Reactions to the Ukraine conflict" (in German). Tagesschau. 22 April 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-04-23. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Facts about gender neutral conscription" (in Norwegian). forsvaret.no. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Søreide: Can't guarantee that Norway reaches two percent" (in Norwegian). VG. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Søreide: Important to take wisdom from the war in Libya" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  9. ^ "The Progress Party withdraws from government" (in Norwegian). VG. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  10. ^ "The foreign minister: The reason we brought the ISIS woman home" (in Norwegian). NRK. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Norway expels Russian diplomat after arresting suspected spy. 2020-08-19. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  12. ^ "'Normalization between Israel and United Arab Emirats positive'" (Press release). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway. 14 August 2020.
  13. ^ "The foreign minister with new sharp criticism against the Trump administration" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Norges utenriksminister til kraftig angrep på Ungarn: − Det går i feil retning" (in Norwegian). VG. 26 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Anklager Kina for dataangrep mot Stortinget – ambassadøren kalles inn på teppet" (in Norwegian). VG. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Norge evakuerer ambassaden" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. 13 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  17. ^ Henrik Heldahl (8 September 2021). "Frykter svekket Ap: – Klarer du én av disse tre, Støre?" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. Retrieved 8 September 2021.


Political offices
Preceded by
Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen 		Minister of Defence
2013–2017 		Succeeded by
Frank Bakke-Jensen
Preceded by
Børge Brende 		Minister of Foreign Affairs
2017– 		Incumbent
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