The Progress Party's Youth (, , FpU) is the youth wing of the Norwegian

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

the Progress Party. It is generally considered to be more aligned towards

classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited governmen ...

than the Progress Party. The organization has active chapters in all

counties of Norway There are 15 counties in Norway. The 15 county, counties are administrative division, administrative regions that are the first-level administrative divisions of Norway. The counties are further subdivided into 357 municipalities of Norway, ...

as well as in over 50

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

. From 2012 to 2014,

Himanshu Gulati Himanshu Gulati (born 16 June 1988) is a Norwegian politician of Indian ancestry representing the Progress Party (Norway), Progress Party. Gulati was the chairperson of the Progress Party's Youth from 2012 to 2014. He served as State Secretary (No ...

was the organisation's chairperson. Gulati is the first leader of a youth wing of a major Norwegian political party with

multi-cultural Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''ethnic'' or cultural pluralism in which various e ...

background. After being selected to the post of State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Gulati stepped down. In 2014, Atle Simonsen was elected chairperson Atle sat as chairman until 2016, when the annual national meeting of FpU elected Bjørn-Kristian Svendrud as the organisation's chairman. The current chairperson is Simen Velle. He was elected in 2022. Velle is a self-described classical liberal, advocating for policies like legalization of drugs, polygamy and sales of organs.

History

The organization was officially founded by members of the Progress Party (FpU) on the annual party convention on 10–11 February 1978, the same convention where Carl I. Hagen was elected chairman of the party. The organization's first leader was the future mayor of Oslo, Peter N. Myhre, who served until 1984.

1994 Bolkesjø purge

As soon as in 1989, rifts appeared within the FpU between a liberal and

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

faction. In the 1989 election several, hardline

libertarians Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

such as

Pål Atle Skjervengen Pål Atle Skjervengen (born 6 October 1960) is a retired Norwegian politician. He was born in Oslo as a son of a police inspector. He finished secondary education in 1979, and briefly studied law, then business administration at the Norwegian Sc ...

and

Tor Mikkel Wara Tor Mikkel Wara (born 27 December 1964) is a Norwegian politician from the Progress Party, who has served as Justice and Immigration Minister from 2018 to 2019 after the resignation of Sylvi Listhaug. Biography Early career Wara was born in Kar ...

gained seats in the

Storting The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The Unicameralism, unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list propo ...

and this further weakened the conservatives' position. That same year saw controversial proposals put forth by the liberals regarding

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...

and

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

which sparked heated debates within among the youth members. In 1992, the liberal

Lars Grønntun Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel", and is therefore related to the name ...

was elected leader after a power struggle with Ingvar Myrvollen. This began a period of large-scale infighting which ultimately led to the board dissolving the organization, only to have the decision reversed by the party. After the expulsion of its entire liberal faction during the

1994 Progress Party national convention The 1994 national convention of the Progress Party of Norway was held from 15 April to 17 April at the hotel Bolkesjø Turisthotell in Bolkesjø, Telemark. It was originally set up to be a normal convention with 157 delegates in a non-election y ...

Bolkesjø Bolkesjø is a village in Notodden Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The village is located along the Norwegian county road A Norwegian county road ( or ) is a highway in Norway owned and maintained by the local county municipality. S ...

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

, Ulf Leirstein became the new leader.

Recent history

Norwegian secondary schools hold school elections. The organization consistently polls better there than its parent party and emerged as the largest party nationwide in 1989, 2003, 2005 and 2009. Recently, they have been out-polled by their

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

rivals from AUF. In 2009, FpU set a new membership record of 3,031 members, although this number dipped to 2,892 in 2010. Nevertheless, all political youth-organizations experienced an upsurge in new members in the aftermath of the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, also called 22 July () or 22/7 in Norway, were two domestic terrorism, domestic terrorist attacks by far-right politics, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik against the politics of Norway, government, the civil ...

Ideology and political positions

In the organization's manifesto, it states: "The Progress Party's Youth supports a free-marked economy, regulated by supply and demand, without interference from government officials. A market economy is the economical system which gives the individual person greatest freedom of action". It also wishes to reform the welfare state with private insurance arrangements and increase privatization in the health and education sector, for one making the public hospitals "compete" with the privately owned hospitals for best possible care. It supports the legalization of

medicinal cannabis Medical cannabis, medicinal cannabis or medical marijuana (MMJ) refers to Cannabis (drug), cannabis products and cannabinoid, cannabinoid molecules that are prescription drug, prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabi ...

, and more liberal drug laws in general.

Leadership

List of chairpersons

* 1978–1984: Peter N. Myhre * 1984–1987:

* 1987–1989:

* 1989–1992: Jan Erik Fåne * 1992–1994: Lars Erik Grønntun * 1994–1995: Ulf Leirstein * 1995–1996:

Klaus Jakobsen Klaus Jakobsen (born 30 January 1989) is a speedway rider from Denmark. Speedway career Jakobsen began his British career riding for Stoke Potters in 2008. He continued to ride for Stoke during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Jakobsen then rode in ...

* 1996:

Anders Anundsen Anders Anundsen (born 17 November 1975) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party who served as Minister of Justice from 2013 to 2016. He was also a member of the Norwegian parliament, representing Vestfold from 2005 to 2017. A jurist ...

* 1996–1998: Reidar Helliesen * 1998–1999:

* 1999–2002: Bård Hoksrud * 2002–2008: Trond Birkedal * 2008–2012: Ove André Vanebo * 2012–2014:

* 2014–2016: Atle Simonsen * 2016–2022: Bjørn-Kristian Svendsrud * 2022–: Simen Velle

Current Central Committee

Source: * Chairperson

nb:Bjørn-Kristian Svendsrud, Simen Velle * First vice-chairperson: Ole Jakob Warlo * Second vice-chairperson: Claudia Rebecka Brännström * Member: Julianne Ofstad * Member: Markus Gotaas * Member: Mats Henriksen * First reserve member: Joakim Myklebost Tangen

External links

Official website

Progress Party website

References

{{Progress Party (Norway) 1978 establishments in Norway Progress Party (Norway) Classical liberalism Conservatism in Norway Youth organizations established in 1978 Youth wings of European Conservatives and Reformists Party member parties Youth wings of conservative parties Youth wings of political parties in Norway