Jan Tore Sanner
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Jan Tore Sanner (born 6 May 1965) is a Norwegian politician for the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
who served as Minister of Finance from 2020 to 2021.NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...
> He previously served as Minister of Education from 2018 to 2020 and Minister of Local Government from 2013 to 2018. He was the party's deputy leader from 2004 to 2022, having first been second deputy for the first four years and first deputy for the last fourteen. Sanner has also been an MP for Akershus since 1993.


Early life and education

Jan Tore Sanner was born in
Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...
as a son of biochemist Tore Sanner and local politician Nina Sanner. He grew up at
Nadderud Nadderud is a district in eastern Bærum, Norway. It was formerly farmland under one of Bærum's larger farms, named Nadderud, but since the 1950s it has been built up with housing, several schools and sporting facilities. The best known facility, ...
and finished his secondary education at Nadderud Upper Secondary School in 1984. Sanner has education in
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and market economy. He has never worked in the private sector.


Political career


Local politics

On the local level he was a deputy member of Bærum
municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
from 1983 to 1989.


Parliament

He was elected to the
Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...
from Akershus in 1993. He had previously served as a deputy representative during the term 1989–1993. From 1989 to 1990 he moved up as a regular representative, filling in for
Kaci Kullmann Five Karin Cecilie "Kaci" Kullmann Five (; 13 April 1951 – 19 February 2017) was a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. She served as a Member of Parliament from 1981 to 1997, as Minister of Trade and Shipping in the Ministry of F ...
who was appointed to the
cabinet Syse Syse's Cabinet was a minority centre-right Conservative, Centre, Christian Democrat Government of Norway. It succeeded the Labour Second cabinet Brundtland after the 1989 election, and sat between 16 October 1989 and 3 November 1990. It was rep ...
. Sanner and Syse went to the same school and were both leaders of the Young Conservatives. Following the Solberg cabinet's defeat in the 2021 election, Sanner became the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
's spokesperson for education and a member of the Standing Committee on Education and Research. He succeeded
Henrik Asheim Henrik Asheim (born 21 August 1983) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. He was leader of the Norwegian Young Conservatives from 2008 to 2012, and Minister of Higher Education from 2020 to 2021. He has also been an MP for Akershu ...
as deputy parliamentary leader in October 2022.


Party politics

In the
Norwegian Young Conservatives Norwegian Young Conservatives (Norwegian: Unge Høyres Landsforbund, UHL, normally referred to as Unge Høyre) is the Norwegian youth party of the Conservative Party. Its ideology is liberal conservatism Liberal conservatism is a political ...
, the youth wing of the Conservative Party, he chaired the local chapter from 1985 to 1986, the regional chapter from 1987 to 1988, became deputy leader nationwide in 1988 and leader from 1990 to 1994. In the Conservative Party, he was a member of the central party board from 1988 to 1994 and served as the first deputy leader of the regional branch from 2001 to 2005. He was second deputy leader of the nationwide party from 2004 to 2008, and rose to first deputy leader in 2008. On 16 January 2022, Sanner announced that he would step down as deputy leader at the next party convention in April. He told ''
Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...
'' that it was time for someone new to take over and that the timing was sensible for it. He was succeeded by
Henrik Asheim Henrik Asheim (born 21 August 1983) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. He was leader of the Norwegian Young Conservatives from 2008 to 2012, and Minister of Higher Education from 2020 to 2021. He has also been an MP for Akershu ...
on 3 April.


Minister of Local Government

As a result of the parliamentary election in the fall of 2013, Sanner was appointed to the position of Minister of Local Government and Modernisation. In April 2016, he didn't rule out that force could be used to merge counties who would not comply with the county merger. This reaction came after that Møre og Romsdal refused to be a part of the new regional reform. In July 2016, Sanner joined the opening of Molde International Jazz Festival/Moldejazz. In 2017, Sanner shot down the proposal "Memory Wound" by Jonas Dahlberg for a
22 July Events Pre-1600 * 838 – Battle of Anzen: The Byzantine emperor Theophilos suffers a heavy defeat by the Abbasids. *1099 – First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of J ...
memorial. Instead, he announced that Statsbygg would be working on a new memorial to be placed at the Utøya quay. He expressed that "we don't want more attention around the place itself. There will be no art competition regarding the memorial, but we do put weight on the formulation of the place". The proposal was met with backlash from neighbours near the Utøya quay, who didn't rule out a lawsuit against it. Towards the end of his term as local government minister, Sanner oversaw the merger of North and South Trøndelag, which came into effect on 1 January 2018.


Minister of Education

After the Liberals joined the Solberg cabinet in January 2018, Sanner was appointed minister of education and research. In June 2018, he announced cuts to several school subjects, and that some elements would be cut. Notably, this included parts of history within the Norwegian and English subjects, with further elements in music, art and handcraft and religion. Despite criticism for the proposals, Sanner emphasised that both principles and teachers had long complained that there were to many subjects and that important subjects were not given enough depth. He further announced minor changes to exams and evaluations for subjects, so that they would be more closely linked to new ones. In September 2019, Sanner responded to a Si;D post made in Aftenposten by a 16-year-old asking when political absence would be allowed in lower secondary school. Sanner's response was that "it is not something me or the government has planned to introduce". He did however emphasise that he understands that many youths would participate in political causes, but that students should be at school as much as possible. He further added that these interests or activities should be done outside of school hours. In November 2019, Sanner made a last minute proposal to the new curriculums, in which schools now achieving more in depth lessons in regards to homosexuality and gender pronounces. Sanner expressed that "of course it should be included. Students should have the right knowledge about the different sexual orientations. We are going to lay the groundwork to fight against prejudice and discrimination, and promote transparancy". In January 2020, a few days before the end of his tenure as minister of education, Sanner responded to criticism from a member of the Socialist Left Youth League, of the government proposal of introducing exams to gymnastics, music, art and handcraft. Sanner stated that he hadn't introduced exams, but rather that students should excell exams within practical and esthetical subjects, and not just theoretical.


Minister of Finance

Following the Progress Party's withdrawal from government on 24 January 2020, Sanner was appointed minister of finance, succeeding
Siv Jensen Siv Jensen (born 1 June 1969) is a Norwegian who served as the leader of the Progress Party from 2006 to 2021. She also held the position as Minister of Finance from 2013 to 2020 in the Solberg Cabinet. She was also a member of the Norwegian ...
. After controversy arouse about Nicolai Tangen being appointed chief of the Petroleum Fund, Sanner had originally expressed concerns about Tangen's appointment. The
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...
issued a press statement where they mentioned that Sanner doesn't have the authority to intervene in Tangen's appointment, further adding that the Governor of the Central Bank Øystein Olsen had not breached the central bank law. The day after, Sanner released a written statement in the Storting, in response to Labour Party deputy leader
Hadia Tajik Hadia Tajik (born 18 July 1983) is a Pakistani-Norwegian jurist, journalist and politician from the Labour Party. She served as Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion from 2021 to 2022. She previously served as Minister of Culture from 2012 ...
: "In the aftermath of this appointment process, I think it is natural to look at whether there are learning points. Furthermore, I will take the initiative to look at whether the formal framework for the Ministry of Finance's role in Norges Bank's appointment of the general manager of the management of the GPFG is appropriate". The case reached a close on 24 August, after Tangen announced he would sell himself out of AKO capital and transfer his shares to AKO Foundation. Sanner expressed in a statement, that he was "glad that Nicolai Tangen and the Central Bank's board have reached a quick solution, and in my evaluation, follows the guidelines of the Storting". In October, Sanner expressed he had no regrets in the spending that was used to help businesses and the usage of economic support packages. He argued that the high spending usage was "necessary and effective" and stressed that "during a crisis, it's important that people don't panic". After the SSB put forward numbers indicating a mainland BNP drop by 2,5 percent in February 2021, that had occurred in 2020, Sanner stated that the fall was the largest that had occurred in peace time after World War II. He further expressed the seriousness in the fall and stressed the situation the Norwegian economy was in. In June, he announced that the crises support used during the COVID-19 pandemic, would be abolished by autumn. He expressed that "we have finished the stress test", further adding that "it's also important to get the petroleum money usage down". At the end of August, Sanner, alongside minister of petroleum and energy Tina Bru, announced at a press conference a proposal to reorganise the petroleum tax. The proposal received mixed reception from the opposition, with the Socialist Left and Red Party praising the proposal, while the Progress Party, Centre Party, and
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
criticised it, with the Greens notably calling it “a desperate attempt” right before the election. The Centre Party called it a stunt. A few days before the 2021 election, VG revealed that Sanner asked the civil service to withhold documents about the Petroleum Fund's future due to the election campaign. Sanner denied that the documents had been withheld, and stated that they were going to be sent in by the designated deadline time for them to be handed in, which he also said they were. The opposition parties criticized Sanner for withholding the documents, with Labour deputy leader
Hadia Tajik Hadia Tajik (born 18 July 1983) is a Pakistani-Norwegian jurist, journalist and politician from the Labour Party. She served as Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion from 2021 to 2022. She previously served as Minister of Culture from 2012 ...
notably citing that "The government's decisions must withstand the light of day in all phases of an election campaign, and if they do not, one may ask how good the decision was in the first place". Ahead of the state budget of 2022 being presented to the Storting in October, Sanner warned that there would be less money usage. He notably stated that the goal for the petroleum budget was to be under 3%. He also said that the expenses would go up due to there being less active ageing workers compared with the number of workers retiring.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanner, Jan Tore 1965 births Living people Members of the Storting Ministers of Finance of Norway Ministers of Local Government and Modernisation of Norway Bærum politicians Conservative Party (Norway) politicians BI Norwegian Business School alumni 21st-century Norwegian politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians Ministers of Education of Norway