Geir-Inge Sivertsen (born 29 August 1965) is a Norwegian engineer and politician for the
Conservative Party.
He is currently the mayor of
Senja
or is an island in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway in northern Europe. With an area of , it is the second largest island in Norway (outside of the Svalbard archipelago). It has a wild, mountainous outer (western) side facing the A ...
since 2023. He served as minister of fisheries from January to March 2020, and previously served as mayor of Lenvik from 2011 to 2019.
Personal life and education
Sivertsen hails from
Finnsnes
is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town that is the administrative centre of Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The town is located on the mainland part of Norway, just across the Gisundet strait from the Senja (island), island of ...
, and graduated as engineer from the
Norwegian Institute of Technology
The Norwegian Institute of Technology ( Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was ...
.
Political career
Local politics
Sivertsen served as mayor of
Lenvik Municipality
Lenvik () is a former municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020. The municipality was partly situated on the mainland and partly on the island of Senja in what is now Senja Municipali ...
from 2011 until its dissolution in 2019.
He was the mayoral candidate for the Conservative Party in
Senja Municipality
Senja is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020 when the municipalities of Berg, Lenvik, Torsken, and Tranøy were merged into one municipality. It is located in the traditional district of Hålogaland. ...
in the
2023 local elections. After lengthy negotiations following the election, the Conservatives formed a majority with the Labour Party and Centre Party, with Sivertsen as mayor and Labour's Marit Stubberud Hanssen as deputy mayor. Both he and Stubberud Hanssen assumed office on 26 October.
Parliament
He was elected deputy member of 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 ...
for
Troms
Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...
in 2005, and served until 2009, before being re-elected in 2017 and served until 2021. During this time, he also served as
State Secretary for the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries from 2019 to 2020.
Minister of Fisheries
From January to March 2020, Sivertsen served as the
Minister of Fisheries in
Erna Solberg's cabinet.
[NRK
The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company.
The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...]
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He resigned on 2 March after controversy surrounding his severance prior to becoming minister.
Sivertsen had received double salary after taking over as Minister of Fisheries, by applying for and getting severance pay after his tenure as Mayor of Lenvik had ended. Labour minister
as his permanent successor on 13 March.