Sylvi Listhaug

Sylvi Listhaug (born 25 December 1977) is a Norwegian politician who has been the leader of the Progress Party since 2021.

Listhaug previously served in several cabinet positions under Prime Minister Erna Solberg, last in brief stints as Minister of the Elderly and Public Health and Minister of Petroleum and Energy between 2019 and 2020. Before that, she served as Norway's first Minister of Immigration and Integration from 2015 to 2018, a specially created cabinet position during the European migrant crisis, and Minister of Agriculture and Food from 2013 to 2015. Her term as Minister of Immigration and Integration saw the number of asylum seekers arriving in Norway reduced from 30,000 in 2015 to 2,000 in 2017. She briefly served as Minister of Justice, Public Security and Immigration in 2018.

Originally from the rural Ørskog Municipality in Sunnmøre, Listhaug began her political career in Oslo as City Commissioner of Welfare and Social Services. She is currently serving as a member of the Storting and the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services.

Early life and education

Listhaug was born in Ålesund. She was raised on the family farm in Ørskog Municipality in Møre og Romsdal, to which she has ''odelsrett''. Her father worked with transportation, while her mother ran the family farm. She has two twin siblings.

In 1995, Listhaug began to work as a care assistant at the local home for the elderly in Ørskog Municipality, and from 1996 to 2000, she studied history, social sciences, and special education at the Volda University College, and continued to work at the Ørskog home to support herself during her student years. In 2000, she graduated and qualified as a teacher, and from 2000 to 2001, she worked as a teacher at the Sjøholt school in Ørskog.

Political career

Early career and parliament

Listhaug began her political involvement locally in Ørskog. She has held several positions within the Progress Party and its youth organisation Progress Party's Youth since 1998, and has been a member of the Progress Party central board since 2005. She worked as political advisor and aide to the Progress Party's parliamentary group from 2001 to 2004. In 2005, she had a stay abroad as an intern in the United States House of Representatives. She has been a deputy representative in the Norwegian parliament from Møre og Romsdal (2001 to 2009), and from Oslo (2009 to 2013), with a total 95 days of parliamentary session served. She was elected as a parliamentary representative for the first time in 2017 (from Møre og Romsdal).

Oslo city commissioner

Listhaug was appointed city commissioner (''byråd'') of welfare and social services in the city government of Oslo in 2006, having been secretary to the previous commissioner Margaret Eckbo. Listhaug spearheaded a number of reforms as commissioner, introducing free choice in home care, and reintroducing senior homes in her first year. She stated as her goals more competition and better nursing homes, and opening for more private companies.

In 2009 she became the subject of a nursing home funding scandal, after it was revealed that a company that had been granted a total amount of 23,5 million NOK from Oslo municipality to build nursing homes for Norwegians in Altea, Spain had not yet even been granted a Spanish construction permit. Listhaug claimed she was not responsible for the plans, which were designed to make Oslo a prime example for other municipalities in regards to care for the elderly. Listhaug told reporters from the state broadcaster ''NRK'' in March 2010 that she did "not have the responsibility for the construction of the nursing home nor authoring the contracts".

Other proposals by Listhaug as city commissioner included a stricter policy on psychiatric patients, and putting up posters of convicted rapists in their local community. Before the gay parade in Oslo in 2009, Listhaug suggested to some controversy that "half and almost wholly naked people dancing around in the streets of Oslo" could rather lead to less tolerance of homosexuals, thus working against its goal, although she made clear that homosexuals should be able to party "when and where they want".

Political consultant

From 2012 until her cabinet appointment, Listhaug had worked as a senior consultant with First House, a Norwegian strategic advisory, corporate communications, governmental affairs and crisis management/issue management agency. Shortly after her appointment, media attention centered on her decision to keep secret her list of clients during her time in the job. The list of public clients was made public in early 2014 after Listhaug herself declared a personal conflict of interest.

Minister of Agriculture (2013–15)

On 16 October 2013, Listhaug was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Food in the new Solberg Cabinet. The Solberg government signalled a drastic change of course in Norwegian agricultural policy by opening for more freely sale and purchase of farms, and seeking a development towards more sustainable fewer and bigger farms. Listhaug as Minister of Agriculture sought to remove laws which require farm-owners to live on the farm. Listhaug argued her changes would lead to a more efficient food production in Norway, ultimately reducing high food prices. She also lowered government subsidies to farmers, who receive one of the highest government subsidies in the world, according to the OECD. As an example, Norwegian farmers receive over 50% of their farm income as government support, while the equivalent number for U.S. farmers is 8%.

As Listhaug in 2010 had called the Norwegian agricultural policy a "communist system" in an op-ed, this received widespread attention in media and social media. After being pressured with the comment in a television debate, she stated her intent on following the new government's policy agreement. Prior comments by Listhaug and the new government's course was met with scepticism and protest among some farmers.

During her time as Minister of Agriculture and Food, Listhaug had, somewhat controversially, contacts with clients of First House, including the farmers' organization Norges Bondelaget, the NHO employers' organization unit representing food and beverage firm, the brewing organization Bryggeriforeningen, and supermarket chain Rema 1000, one of her last clients for First House before she joined the government herself.

Minister of Immigration (2015–18)

On 16 December 2015, Listhaug was appointed Minister of Immigration and Integration, a newly formed cabinet position under the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, amid the European migrant crisis and record-high numbers of asylum seekers in Norway that resulted in a broad parliamentary agreement to tighten asylum regulations. The month prior to her appointment Listhaug criticised what she described as a "tyranny of goodness" haunting the Norwegian immigration debate, and that it would be more Christian and reasonable to help as many people as possible through foreign aid to refugees abroad rather than aiding fewer and more costly asylum seekers in Norway. She later vowed that her proposed asylum regulations would make Norway's asylum policies "one of the strictest in Europe".

The first four months of 2016 saw asylum applications in Norway drop to its lowest levels since 1993, with only about 250 new applications each month. The reduction resulted in at least 800 million (100 million) being saved in direct asylum reception costs alone in the revised annual state budget, amid budget strains due to the low oil price. Listhaug has since called for further immigration and asylum restrictions to be implemented, particularly in family reunifications which reached all-time highs of about 20,000 in 2017. Among her proposals is that family reunifications should rather be achieved in the native countries of immigrants instead of in Norway.

Opinion polls consistently showed Listhaug to have the highest approval rating of all government ministers from her party, and several others. In September 2016, a poll showed that 59% of Norway's population approved of her work on immigration, with less than a quarter disapproving.

In August 2017, a row took place between Listhaug and Sweden's political establishment after Listhaug planned a visit to the Swedish suburb of Rinkeby in the context of the country's vulnerable areas, having warned during her time as minister about the need to avoid "Swedish conditions" in Norway. Although meeting with other Swedish officials, Sweden's Minister for Migration Heléne Fritzon cancelled her scheduled meeting with Listhaug, saying she would not be part of an "election campaign" in the run-up to the Norwegian parliamentary election in September.

Minister of Justice (2018)

After securing renewed support for the centre-right coalition in the 2017 parliamentary election, Listhaug was appointed Minister of Justice, Public Security and Immigration in January 2018, absorbing her former cabinet position following a government re-shuffle. As Minister of Justice, Listhaug "waged a war" against pedophile perpetrators, both internationally and domestically. Listhaug introduced new legislation which would remove the passports from pedophiles committing assaults abroad, and it caused controversy when she unapologetically referred to these individuals as "monsters".

In March 2018, Listhaug posted a Facebook message claiming that the Labour Party "cares more about the rights of terrorists than national security" following disagreement on a parliamentary vote about whether the state should be able to withdraw the citizenship of threats to national security. After insisting for several days amid criticism that no apology was warranted other than stating regret if offending anyone, the government led by Prime Minister Solberg, and eventually Listhaug herself apologised for the post in parliament. As Listhaug's initial apology was considered "not good enough" by Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre, this caused the opposition, including Labour and the Centre Party to state their support for a motion of no confidence pushed by the Red Party. The day before the vote on 20 March, the Christian Democrats also concluded they would support the motion, thereby indicating a parliamentary majority for the motion of no confidence. Listhaug resigned herself in the morning before the parliamentary session.

After eight years of decreasing membership numbers, the Progress Party received 5,350 new members, making up 25 percent of the party's total membership following the conflict. One opinion poll also briefly showed a doubling of voter support for the party. The new party members were seen by political scientists to make up a new power-base for Listhaug within the party.

First deputy leader (2018–21)

In June 2018, Sylvi Listhaug was nominated by Møre og Romsdal Progress Party as a candidate for first deputy leader of the Progress Party. The party's annual national meeting will constitute a new deputy leader on 3 September 2018, in order to replace Per Sandberg. State broadcaster NRK reported in August 2018 that Listhaug likely will be elected by the central board. Listhaug told reporters in Arendal: "I am humbled and honored to be mentioned as a deputy leader candidate", and added "I am ready to serve if the party wants me in such a role".

On 3 September 2018, the Progress Party's Central Board unanimously voted to constitute Listhaug as acting first deputy leader of the party. The formal election took take place during the party's national convention in May 2019.

Minister of the Elderly and Public Health (2019)

Sylvi Listhaug was appointed Minister for the elderly and public health on 3 May 2019 in Erna Solberg's coalition government. She was minister in the Ministry of Health and Care Services alongside Health Minister Bent Høie.

On 6 May 2019, she sparred controversy when she, newly appointed as the new health minister, told reporters from NRK: "People should be allowed to smoke, drink and eat as much red meat as much as they want. The authorities may like to inform, but people know pretty much what is healthy and what is not healthy, I think". The secretary general of the Norwegian Cancer Society, Anne Lise Ryel, said Listhaug's comments were "potentially harmful to public health".

Minister of Petroleum and Energy (2019–20)

On 18 December 2019, Listhaug assumed office as the Minister of Petroleum and Energy. In January 2020, she and the rest of Progress Party ministers withdrew from the government after a dispute over the return of an IS woman and her children. Listhaug was subsequently replaced by Tina Bru on 24 January when her party had formally left the government, and returned to opposition.NRK