Nesvik confirmed as Minister of  Fisheries

Nesvik Solberg Sandberg Minister of FisheriesPrime Minister Erna Solberg and newly appointed Minister of Fisheries Harald Tom Nesvik at the Palace Square after extraordinary Government council at the Palace Monday. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix

Harald Tom Nesvik confirmed as Minister of  Fisheries

Harald Tom Nesvik (Progress Party) takes over as Minister of Fisheries. Nesvik arrived at the Palace Square together with Prime Minister Erna Solberg (Conservatives) after a Government meeting on Monday.

 

The new Minister of Fisheries received a flower bouquet at the Palace square at 1.10 pm before he and the Prime Minister turned and returned to the Royal Palace in Oslo.

A press conference has been announced at 1:45 pm in the Government’s representation centre in connection with the change of Minister. There is also a notified of a key transfer ceremony at 3 pm in the Ministry of Food and Fisheries.

Harald Tom Nesvik is former parliamentary leader in the Progress Party, and he served as a Member of Parliament for Møre and Romsdal from 1997 to 2017. He takes over from party colleague Per Sandberg.

Nesvik comes from the position of Communications Manager in the wellbore shipping company Sølvtrans. He was in June last year appointed as the County Governor of Møre and Romsdal from 2019 but declined the post in May for family reasons.

Per Sandberg resigns as deputy chairman of the Progress Party

Per Sandberg has informed the Progress Party of his resignation as deputy chairman, in addition to leaving the post as the Minister of Fisheries.

– There have been ups and downs, and I’m proud to have helped build the Progress Party into a big and strong party. Now, however, is the time to go let bygones be bygones, do something else and get the opportunity to spend more time on my private life, says Sandberg.

He has been Deputy Leader since 2006, the same year as Siv Jensen was elected as party leader after Carl I. Hagen. After receiving massive criticism for the Iranian holiday with his girlfriend Bahareh Letnes, Sandberg Monday chose to resign as Minister of Fisheries. Shortly after, the message came that he also steps down as the Deputy Leader of the Progress Party.

Sandberg has been a parliamentary representative from 1997 to 2017 and has in the past chaired both the parliamentary committee of justice and transport committee.

– Per has been important for the Progress Party (Frp) and the Government for many years. He has made a formidable effort for the party for many years, and it will be big shoes to fill. I still think it’s wise that Per now chooses to leave. Per is one of the party’s most experienced nationwide politicians. I want to thank him for his considerable effort for the party over decades, says Jensen.

She meets the press later on Monday in connection with Sandberg’s resignation.

Three members of the Government have broken the phone security rules

Minister of Transport and Communications, Ketil Solvik-Olsen (Progress Party) and two state secretaries did not follow the rules when they brought official phones to high-risk countries.

There were no safety assessments in the ministry and measures implemented to secure the phones, writes Justice and Emergency Minister Tor Mikkel Wara in a reply to the Parliament, reports Dagens Næringsliv.

Solvik-Olsen, who is also the second deputy leader of the Progress Party, brought along the phone during the opening of a road between Russia and Norway last autumn. The same did the State Secretary in the ministry, Tom Cato Karlsen (Progress Party).

– The few hours the minister was in Russia, the mobile phone was consciously put in flight mode and in personal custody throughout the stay. The phones did not have the Ministry’s case processing system installed, writes Wara.

State Secretary Petter Kvinge Tvedt in the Ministry of Finance also brought his official mobile on a private trip to Hong Kong and Macao in May 2016. He also did not have the Ministry’s case processing system installed.

Not in any of the cases, the ministries made a security assessment and no special measures were taken to prevent the phones from being compromised, the Minister of Justice informs.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today