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Høie becomes County Governor in Rogaland

Bent HøieMinister of Health and Care Services, Bent Høie, becomes County Governor in Rogaland. Photo regjeringen.no

Bent Høie becomes County Governor in Rogaland

Minister of Health, Bent Høie (Conservatives), becomes County Governor in Rogaland. Else-May Botten (Labour) becomes County Governor in Møre & Romsdal and Tom Cato Karlsen (Progress Party) takes over in Nordland.

 

The appointments were confirmed by His Majesty, the King in a Cabinet meeting on Friday.

– We bring three talented persons with exciting and varied backgrounds on board, says Municipal and Modernisation Minister, Monica Mæland (Conservatives).

Botten and Høie are currently elected to the Norwegian Parliament for the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) and the Conservatives (Høyre) respectively until 2021. Therefore, they will not take over the position until the end of this period at the earliest.

In Nordland, the position as County Governor is vacant from January 1st, 2019, and Tom Cato Karlsen will probably take over as of that date. The 44-years-old is a Chief Physician and Progress Party (Frp) politician and has previously been Secretary of State under Minister of Transport, Ketil Solvik-Olsen, in the period from 2014 to 2017. For three years before that, he also served as Deputy Mayor in the Bodø municipality.

Twenty years as an MP

Bent Høie has been Minister of Health since 2013 and informs that he will continue with that as long as the current Government remains in power – if the Prime Minister sees fit. But from 2021 onwards, it is an end to the life as a Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament.

– By 2021 I will have been in the Parliament (Storting) for 20 years, so it’s time to let others have a go, Høie says when it became clear that he would be appointed as a County Governor earlier in the Autumn.

Høie competed for the job with, among others, former Government colleague, Solveig Horne (Progress Party).

Important job

Møre & Romsdal’s future County Governor is 45 years old Else-May Botten. She is currently partaking in the Energy and Environment Committee at the Norwegian Parliament and is also part of the Central Committee of the Labour Party.

When she applied for the job, she said that she looks at the County Governor position as both exciting and challenging, and emphasised that after 20 years of work with Møre & Romsdal she is well informed about the county.

– My application is based on an opportunity to use my experience and expertise in an important job at home, not a signal that I do not want to make any efforts in the national policy anymore, Botten tells NTB.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today