Helge Lunde Seip (5 March 1919 – 29 January 2004) was a Norwegian politician for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

and later the Liberal People's Party. He was born in

Surnadal Municipality is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Skei. Other villages in Surnadal include Bøverfjorden, Glærem, Moen, Stangvik, Surnadalsøra, Sylte, T ...

. At a young age he became involved in the Young Liberals, the youth wing of the Liberal Party. In the local chapter of

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

he was a member of the board from 1937 to 1939, and deputy chairman from 1939 to 1945. From 1945 to 1947 he was a board member of their national organization. In 1948 he became a deputy member of the Liberal Party national board, advancing to regular board member in 1952. He continued in this position, becoming national party leader in 1970. He was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) 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 based on party-list proportional represe ...

from

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

, and was re-elected on three occasions in

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

and

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

. In between he headed the Liberal ballot in the 1961 election, but the Liberals had no MPs elected. In 1965 he was appointed Minister of Local Government in the centre-right Borten's Cabinet. He left in 1970, and was replaced by Helge Rognlien. During his fifth term as parliament member, in December 1972, Seip joined the Liberal People's Party which split from the Liberal Party over disagreements of Norway's proposed entry to the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. He was again succeeded by Helge Rognlien, this time as party leader of the Liberal Party. Instead, Seip became the first leader of the Liberal People's Party. However, Seip was not re-elected to parliament in 1973, thus disappearing from national politics. On the local level Seip was a member of

city council from 1945 to 1947, and later of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

Bærum Municipality Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). The administr ...

from 1951 to 1967, serving as deputy mayor from 1951 to 1955, and later another tenure from 1979 to 1991. Outside politics, Seip graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

as cand.oecon. in 1941 and cand.jur. in 1942. Among his jobs before becoming a cabinet member were consultant in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

from 1946 to 1948, lecturer at the University of Oslo from 1947 to 1955, assistant secretary in the Ministry of Trade from 1948 to 1952, the same position at

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

from 1952 to 1954 and political chief editor in the newspaper ''

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

'' from 1954 to 1965. In 1951 the idea of appointing Seip as a State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance was discussed, but it did not happen. He was secretary general of the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...

from 1973 to 1977, and editor-in-chief of ''Norges Handels- og Sjøfartstidende'' (renamed ''

Dagens Næringsliv ''(DN)'' ( Norwegian for "''Today's Business Affairs''"), is a Norwegian daily newspaper focusing on economic and business current affairs. it is the third-largest newspaper in Norway by circulation. Editor-in-chief is Janne Johannessen, appoint ...

'' in 1987) from 1977 to 1980. In 1980 he was appointed director of the newly created Norwegian Data Inspectorate. He left in 1989 to become Data Protection Commissioner for the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

, a position he held until his retirement in 1995. His brother Martin Fredrik Seip was a noted physician and professor of medicine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seip, Helge 1919 births 2004 deaths Liberal Party (Norway) politicians Liberal People's Party (Norway, 1972) politicians Ministers of local government and modernisation of Norway Politicians from Oslo Bærum politicians Norwegian newspaper editors University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian writers Directors of government agencies of Norway Helge People from Surnadal Members of the Storting 1969–1973 Members of the Storting 1965–1969 Members of the Storting 1958–1961 Members of the Storting 1954–1957