Norway’s Premier Seeks to Salvage Cabinet Torn Over EU Rules
(Bloomberg) -- Norway’s prime minister is trying to resolve a feud with his key coalition partner to avert a political crisis with seven months to go until the next parliamentary elections.
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Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store held a news conference on Friday extolling the good working relationship with his Labor Party’s junior partner, Center, to prevent it from leaving the two-party cabinet. The political groups are at odds over adopting the European Union’s energy market rules.
An exit by the Center Party, potentially on the table at a leadership board meeting Monday, would leave Labor to govern on its own until the Sept. 8 vote. Norway doesn’t hold snap elections.
Working together for 3 1/2 years, the parties have respected each other enough “to find good solutions,” Store told reporters in Oslo, adding “that’s how it is in this case as well.”
It remains to be seen whether the Center Party will agree after the row became public this week.
The minority government has held off the adoption of the EU’s measures on renewable energy and power market as the euro-skeptic Center has opposed the legislation. Labor on Thursday proposed passing the less contentious parts of the EU rules, an option that Center has also rejected. Norway has access to the single market through the European Economic Area agreement despite remaining outside of the EU.
Store’s coalition, which also depends on parliamentary support from the Socialist Left party that officially isn’t part of the bloc, has faced an uphill battle to extend its term. Its popularity has been steadily sliding amid a string of ethics scandals, tax hikes that have triggered an outflow of the rich and fallout from a cost-of-living spike in the past years. Still, the latest polls showed the race is tightening again.
“This government is used to searching for solutions,” Store said. “When it is tough, we take extra time.”
--With assistance from Kari Lundgren.
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