Anne-Grete Hjelle Strøm-Erichsen (born 21 October 1949 in Bergen) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She served as Minister of Defence from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2012 to 2013. She also served as Minister of Health and Care Services from 2009 to 2012. In local politics, she served as the Mayor of Bergen from 1999 to 2000 and its first Chief Commissioner from 2000 to 2003.

Education and career outside politics

Strøm-Erichsen was educated in EDB engineering at Bergen University College in 1974. She then studied at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in the United States until 1981 and worked with the EDB systems at the University of Bergen until 1984. She was later senior consultant in Siemens Nixdorf from 1988 to 1991 and BDC AS from 1991 to 1995.

Political career

Local politics

Strøm-Erichsen was mayor of Bergen from 1999 to 2000 and chaired its city council from 2000 to 2003. Being mayor, she was the president of the

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from 1999 to 2001. She also chaired the county party chapter from 1997 to 1999, and was a member of the Labour Party central committee from 2002 to 2007.

First term as Minister of Defence

She was elected to the Storting from Hordaland in the 2005 election. On 17 October 2005, she was appointed Minister of Defence in the Red-Green Coalition government headed by Jens Stoltenberg. Her seat in parliament was taken by

Dag Ole Teigen Dag Ole Teigen (born 10 August 1982 in Volda) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party (AP). He represented Hordaland in the Norwegian Parliament, where he met from 2005-2009 in the place of Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, who was appointed to ...

. In September 2007, Strøm-Erichsen expressed that Norwegian special forces in Afghanistan could have killed ''hostile elements'', further adding that there was reason to believe that they had, and it was "not something we hide". In April 2008, Strøm-Erichsen received tenders from the aircraft manufacturers Saab and

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

to deliver the new fighter jets to the Norwegian Air Force. The respective manufacturers' aircraft were presented by the U.S Ambassador to Norway

Benson K. Whitney Benson Kelley Whitney (born August 17, 1956 in Saint Paul, Minnesota) was the United States Ambassador to Norway from 2006 to 2009. Early life and education Whitney grew up in Minnesota branch of the prominent American Whitney family and is of ...

and Swedish Defence Minister

Sten Tolgfors Sten Sture Tolgfors (born 17 July 1966 in Forshaga) is a Swedish former politician, public affairs executive and government official who is serving as Governor of Västra Götaland County since 1 September 2022, having been appointed to the pos ...

respectively. Strøm-Erichsen described it as a difficult decision to make, as the two aircraft represent different military operational qualities with different industrial agreements at the bottom. In February 2009, Strøm-Erichsen stated that Norway had participated strongly with special forces in Afghanistan, notably with 600 soldiers and 750

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

a year, in response to the US's indication to pressure NATO allies to send more soldiers.

Minister of Health and Care Services

After the 2009 election, she was appointed Minister of Health and Care Services.

Second term as Minister of Defence

Following a cabinet reshuffle on 21 September 2012, she was reappointed as minister of defence succeeding Espen Barth Eide, who had been appointed minister of foreign affairs. In February 2013, she moderated her standing on whether or not

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

could receive military assistance if they were attacked. She expressed that it was something she could not promise. Prior to that, she had attended a NATO summit with fellow ministers of defence, and later visited

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. Following the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

's evaluation that

Chief of Defence The chief of defence (or head of defence) is the highest ranked commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces. The acronym CHOD is in common use within NATO and the European Union as a generic term for the highest national military position withi ...

Harald Sunde was not incompetent when he appointed Karl Egil Hanevik as chief of the special forces, Strøm-Erichsen said she would take note of the ministry's legal assessment. The case had been revealed by VG the day before, that Sunde had a personal connection to Hanevik by being his fiancé at his wedding and the two also were sponsors of each other's children. In June, she presented new responses to the

Storting 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 ...

Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs The Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs ( no, Kontroll- og konstitusjonskomiteen) is a standing committee of the Parliament of Norway. It holds a supervisory role in relation to the proceedings of the parliament and public se ...

regarding critical emails from the Navy Command. She took this action after being criticised for not taking claims of lying, manipulation and threats of surveillance from the Norwegian Army's top level in connection with the proposal to move the Marine Hunter Command from Ramsund and Bergen to Rena. In the summer of 2013, under her leadership, the

decided to introduce gender-neutral conscription in the Norwegian Armed Forces, which was introduced in 2015 under her successor, Ine Eriksen Søreide's leadership. She did not seek reelection in the 2013 election.Kjetil Løset
Sp-topp trekker seg fra Stortinget
(in Norwegian)

TV2 Channel 2 or TV 2 may refer to: Television networks, channels and stations *Channel 2 (Iran), operated by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting *Channel 2 (Israel), a commercial television station *, entertainment and music television in Latvia * ...

, June 25, 2012. Retrieved December 9, 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strom-Erichsen, Anne-Grete 1949 births Living people Members of the Storting Ministers of Health and Care Services of Norway Labour Party (Norway) politicians Mayors of Bergen Female defence ministers Bergen University College alumni Women mayors of places in Norway Norwegian Christians Women members of the Storting 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians 21st-century Norwegian politicians 21st-century Norwegian women politicians Women government ministers of Norway People educated at Langhaugen Upper Secondary School Defence ministers of Norway