Today, Støre presents the new government cabal – Vestre will probably become the new health minister

After Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) had to resign as Minister of Health and Welfare following the plagiarism case, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) has once once more had to shuffle the cards.

On Thursday, several media reported, among other things VG , TV 2 and NRK , that the new government cabal was ready. The new ministers will only be appointed on Friday.

That also The daily newspaper and The online newspaper wrote earlier this week, Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) will become health minister following Kjerkol. As a result, the job of minister of business will become vacant.

According to what the media know, today’s fisheries minister Cecilie Myrseth (Ap) will take over from Vestre as industry minister, while Marianne Sivertsen Næss (Ap) will take over Myrseth’s job as fisheries minister.

Both Vestre, Myrseth and Næss were observed on Thursday at the Prime Minister’s office (SMK).

– Good knowledge of Finnmark conditions is important

Næss, who is likely to take over as fisheries minister, will be the new face in the government. Today she sits as a parliamentary representative for Finnmark.

– Finnmark is very dependent on fisheries. That is why it is important that the fisheries minister has good knowledge of Finnmark’s conditions, says Storting politician Runar Sjåstad (Ap) from Finnmark to NRK.

With the reservation that the information is correct, Sjåstad says that Næss is the right person to hold the position of Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.

Næss was elected to the Storting in 2021 and is chairman of the energy and environment committee. She has also been AP’s energy and environmental policy spokesperson for the past two years. Before she entered the Storting, Sivertsen Næss was mayor of Hammerfest from 2019.

No healthcare background

After two and a half years as minister of business, it appears that Vestre will today be appointed as minister of health and care. Vestre has no healthcare background.

He, who is the deputy leader of Ap, has been minister of industry since October 2021. Before his appointment, he was general manager of the Norwegian furniture manufacturer Vestre.

Vestre is a trained lawyer and has several years behind him as a political adviser in the Labor Party. In 2013, he was a political adviser to the then Minister of Industry and Trade, Trond Giske.

He was one of the survivors of the terrorist attack on Utøya on 22 July 2011 and was chairman of the board for the reconstruction of Utøya from 2013 to 2017.

Myrseth takes over following Vestre

Cecilie Myrseth (Ap) joined the government last autumn, as fisheries minister. Now, according to the media, she will take over from Vestre as minister of industry.

Myrseth originally comes from Lavangen municipality in Troms and is a trained psychologist. She was elected as a parliamentary representative for Troms in 2017 and has been a member of the Labor Party’s central board since 2019.

Myrseth sat on the business committee at the Storting in the previous term.

Two ministers

The new ministers will only be appointed on Friday – and according to NRK, there are possibilities that there will be two ministers on Friday.

Every Friday at 11 o’clock the government usually goes up to the Castle to meet King Harald and adopt important decisions in the Cabinet.

But on Friday, the tradition-rich streak will be broken. King Harald is still on sick leave, while Crown Prince Haakon is currently still traveling abroad. Therefore, the government plans to hold cabinet meetings in the Prime Minister’s office, without any royals present. The last time this happened was in 2007.

But according to NRK’s information, the appointments will probably come in an extraordinary Cabinet meeting at the Palace on Friday followingnoon.

By then, Crown Prince Haakon will be back in the country following his trip abroad. NRK writes that the plan is to make changes in the government in a second cabinet.