Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway)

The Minister of Foreign Affairs (Bokmål: Utenriksministeren, Nynorsk: Utanriksministeren) is a councilor of state and chief of the Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 16 October 2023, the position has been held by Espen Barth Eide of the Labour Party.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway
Utenriksministeren
Incumbent Espen Barth Eide since 16 October 2023
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Member of	Council of State
Seat	Victoria Terrasse, Oslo
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	Monarch With approval of Parliament
Term length	No fixed length
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Norway
Formation	7 June 1905
First holder	Jørgen Løvland
Succession	Second to Prime Minister
Deputy	State secretaries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Website	Official website

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based at Victoria Terrasse, Oslo, is responsible for Norway's relation with foreign countries, including diplomacy and diplomatic missions, trade, foreign aid and cooperation with international organisations. Except during the four in which a Deputy of the Prime Minister of Norway was appointed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs ranks second in the cabinet after the Prime Minister and is his deputy.^[1]

History

The position was created on 7 June 1905, the day Norway declared independence from Sweden, with the Liberal Party's Jørgen Løvland as the inaugural.^[2] Forty people from five parties have held the position, all men excepting the current officeholder. From 1983 to 2013 the Minister of International Development, which was responsible for issues related to foreign aid, was attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[3]

Notable officeholders

Halvard Lange (Labour) is the longest-serving, having held the position for more than eighteen years in four cabinets. The shortest-serving is the fellow party member, Edvard Bull, Sr., who held the position for the sixteen days that Hornsrud's Cabinet lasted. Johan Ludwig Mowinckel (Liberal) was appointed four times as minister. Three people have sat concurrently as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs: Løvland, Mowinckel and Ivar Lykke (Conservative). Three officeholders would later become Prime Minister: Løvland, Mowinckel and Kjell Magne Bondevik (Christian Democratic). Two former Prime Ministers have held the office: John Lyng (Conservative) and Thorbjørn Jagland (Labour). Trygve Lie (Labour) resigned from the office to become the inaugural Secretary-General of the United Nations. Two people have died while in office: Knut Frydenlund and Johan Jørgen Holst (both Labour).

List of ministers

The following lists the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, their party, date of assuming and leaving office, their tenure in years and days, and the cabinet they served in.

Key

  Agrarian/Centre Party
  Christian Democratic Party
  Conservative Party
  Labour Party
  Liberal Party

Portrait	Name	Party	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Cabinet	Ref
	Jørgen Løvland	Liberal	7 June 1905	19 March 1908	2 years, 286 days	Michelsen Løvland	[2][4]
	Wilhelm Christophersen	Liberal	19 March 1908	2 February 1910	1 year, 320 days	Knudsen I	[5]
	Johannes Irgens	Conservative	2 February 1910	31 January 1913	2 years, 364 days	Konow Bratlie	[6]
	Nils Claus Ihlen	Liberal	31 January 1913	21 June 1920	7 years, 142 days	Knudsen II	[7][8]
	Christian Fredrik Michelet	Conservative	21 June 1920	22 June 1921	1 year, 1 day	Bahr Halvorsen I	[9]
	Arnold C. Ræstad	Liberal	22 June 1921	31 May 1922	343 days	Blehr II	[10]
	Johan Ludwig Mowinckel	Liberal	31 May 1922	6 March 1923	279 days	Blehr II	[10]
	Christian Fredrik Michelet	Conservative	6 March 1923	25 July 1924	1 year, 141 days	Bahr Halvorsen II Berge	[11][12]
	Johan Ludwig Mowinckel	Liberal	25 July 1924	5 March 1926	1 year, 223 days	Mowinckel I	[13]
	Ivar Lykke	Conservative	5 March 1926	28 January 1928	1 year, 323 days	Lykke	[14]
	Edvard Bull, Sr.	Labour	28 January 1928	15 February 1928	18 days	Hornsrud	[15]
	Johan Ludwig Mowinckel	Liberal	15 February 1928	12 May 1931	3 years, 86 days	Mowinckel II	[16]
	Birger Braadland	Agrarian	12 May 1931	3 March 1933	1 year, 295 days	Kolstad Hundseid	[17][18]
	Johan Ludwig Mowinckel	Liberal	3 March 1933	20 March 1935	2 years, 17 days	Mowinckel III	[19]
	Halvdan Koht	Labour	20 March 1935	19 November 1940	5 years, 244 days	Nygaardsvold	[20]
	Trygve Lie	Labour	19 November 1940	2 February 1946	5 years, 75 days	Nygaardsvold Gerhardsen I-II	[20][21][22]
	Halvard Lange	Labour	2 February 1946	28 August 1963	17 years, 207 days	Gerhardsen II Torp Gerhardsen III	[22][23][24]
	Erling Wikborg	Christian Democratic	28 August 1963	25 September 1963	28 days	Lyng	[25]
	Halvard Lange	Labour	25 September 1963	12 October 1965	2 years, 17 days	Gerhardsen IV	[26]
	John Lyng	Conservative	12 October 1965	22 May 1970	4 years, 222 days	Borten	[27]
	Svenn Stray	Conservative	22 May 1970	17 March 1971	299 days	Borten	[27]
	Andreas Cappelen	Labour	17 March 1971	18 October 1972	1 year, 215 days	Bratteli I	[28]
	Dagfinn Vårvik	Centre	18 October 1972	16 October 1973	363 days	Korvald	[29]
	Knut Frydenlund	Labour	16 October 1973	14 October 1981	7 years, 363 days	Bratteli II Nordli Brundtland I	[30][31][32]
	Svenn Stray	Conservative	14 October 1981	9 May 1986	4 years, 207 days	Willoch I-II	[33]
	Knut Frydenlund	Labour	9 May 1986	26 February 1987	262 days	Brundtland II	[34]
	Thorvald Stoltenberg	Labour	9 March 1987	16 October 1989	2 years, 221 days	Brundtland II	[34]
	Kjell Magne Bondevik	Christian Democratic	16 October 1989	3 November 1990	1 year, 18 days	Syse	[35]
	Thorvald Stoltenberg	Labour	3 November 1990	2 April 1993	2 years, 151 days	Brundtland III	[36]
	Johan Jørgen Holst	Labour	2 April 1993	13 January 1994	286 days	Brundtland III	[36]
	Bjørn Tore Godal	Labour	24 January 1994	17 October 1997	3 years, 266 days	Brundtland III Jagland	[36][37]
	Knut Vollebæk	Christian Democratic	17 October 1997	17 March 2000	2 years, 152 days	Bondevik I	[38]
	Thorbjørn Jagland	Labour	17 March 2000	19 October 2001	1 year, 216 days	Stoltenberg I	[39]
	Jan Petersen	Conservative	19 October 2001	17 October 2005	3 years, 363 days	Bondevik II	[40]
	Jonas Gahr Støre	Labour	17 October 2005	21 September 2012	6 years, 340 days	Stoltenberg II	[41]
	Espen Barth Eide	Labour	21 September 2012	16 October 2013	1 year, 25 days	Stoltenberg II	[41]
	Børge Brende	Conservative	16 October 2013	20 October 2017	4 years, 4 days	Solberg	[42]
	Ine Eriksen Søreide	Conservative	20 October 2017	14 October 2021	3 years, 359 days	Solberg	[43]
	Anniken Huitfeldt	Labour	14 October 2021	16 October 2023	2 years, 2 days	Støre	[44]
	Espen Barth Eide	Labour	16 October 2023	present	1 year, 305 days	Støre	[45]

Minister of European Affairs

The Minister of European Affairs was responsible for cases related to the EEA and Norway's relation with the EU. The post was established on 16 October 2013 by the Solberg Cabinet, which at the time consisted of the Conservatives and the Progress Party. It was abolished on 17 January 2018 when the Liberals joined the Cabinet.^[46]

Key

  Conservative Party

Ministers

Portrait	Name	Party	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Cabinet
	Vidar Helgesen	Conservative	16 October 2013	16 December 2015	2 years, 61 days	Solberg
	Elisabeth Aspaker	Conservative	16 December 2015	20 December 2016	1 year, 4 days	Solberg
	Frank Bakke-Jensen	Conservative	20 December 2016	20 October 2017	304 days	Solberg
	Marit Berger Røsland	Conservative	20 October 2017	17 January 2018	89 days	Solberg