The Progress Party's Youth ( no, Fremskrittspartiets Ungdom, FpU), is the youth wing of the Norwegian

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

the Progress Party. It is generally considered to be more libertarian than the Progress Party itself. The organization has active chapters in all

counties of Norway Norway is divided into 11 administrative regions, called counties (singular no, fylke, plural nb, fylker; nn, fylke from Old Norse: ''fylki'' from the word "folk", sme, fylka, sma, fylhke, smj, fylkka, fkv, fylkki) which until 1918 ...

as well as in over 50

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

. From 2012, Himanshu Gulati was the organisation's chairperson. Gulati is the first leader of a youth wing of a major Norwegian political party with multi-cultural 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. Atle now works as political adviser to Minister of Children and Equality

Solveig Horne Solveig Horne (born 12 January 1969) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party who served as Minister of Children and Equality in the Solberg Cabinet from 2013 to 2018. She was also an MP for Rogaland from 2005 to 2021. She has been an ...

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 Peter Nicolai Myhre (born 29 November 1954) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party. Early life and career Myhre is the son of tobacco merchant Gunnar Peter Myhre (1909–1975) and Gunhild Nordlid (1914–2004). He married Marie Franço ...

, who served until 1984.

1994 Bolkesjø purge

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

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

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

faction. In the 1989 election several, hardline

libertarians Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's enc ...

such as Pål Atle Skjervengen 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 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 sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

and

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

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". A homonymous Etruscan name was bo ...

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 ...

at Bolkesjø in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

Ulf Leirstein Ulf Isak Leirstein (born 30 June 1973) is a Norwegian politician, formerly for the Progress Party and then independent, and a member of the Storting from 2005 to 2021. He left the party after it was revealed that he had sent pornographic pictur ...

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 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, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

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, or medical marijuana (MMJ), is cannabis and cannabinoids that are prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has not been rigorously tested due to production and governmental restrictions ...

, and more liberal drug laws in general.

Leadership

List of chairpersons

* 1978–1984:

* 1984–1987: Pål Atle Skjervengen * 1987–1989:

* 1989–1992:

Jan Erik Fåne Jan Erik Fåne (born 25 September 1965 in Oslo) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus in 1989, but was not re-elected in 1993. On the local level, Fåne was a member of the ex ...

* 1992–1994: Lars Erik Grønntun * 1994–1995:

* 1995–1996:

Klaus Jakobsen Klaus Jakobsen (born 30 January 1989) is a speedway rider from Denmark. Speedway career He rode in the top tier of British Speedway, riding for the Peterborough Panthers The Peterborough Panthers are a British speedway team based in Peterbo ...

* 1996: Anders Anundsen * 1996–1998: Reidar Helliesen * 1998–1999: Anders Anundsen * 1999–2002: Bård Hoksrud * 2002–2008: Trond Birkedal * 2008–2012: Ove André Vanebo * 2012–2014: Himanshu Gulati * 2014–2016: Atle Simonsen * 2016–: Bjørn-Kristian Svendsrud

Current Central Committee

* Chairperson: Bjørn-Kristian Svendsrud * First vice-chairperson: Kristian August Eilertsen * Second vice-chairperson: Christoffer Pedersen * Member:

Maria Alseth Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

* Member: Fredrik Juel Hagen * Member: Bjørn Emil Forbord Nesset * Member: Fredrik Johansen

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 Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe member parties Youth wings of conservative parties Youth wings of political parties in Norway