Slight Cabinet Reshuffle Expected after Budget

UNCLAS OSLO 000604 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/NB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON SCUL NO SUBJECT: Slight Cabinet Reshuffle Expected after Budget Presentation to Parliament October 13 REF: Oslo 0570 ¶1. (U) Summary: As a result of Labor's strong showing in the September 14 Parliamentary (Storting) elections, the Labor Party will have more influence and the Socialist Left Party (SV) less influence in the newly re-elected three-party Red-Green Coalition government. Press speculation on the nature of the upcoming cabinet shuffle has been rife since PM Stoltenberg kicked off coalition negotiations on a common governing platform and a new cabinet early this week upon his return from UNGA. The Prime Minister signaled he does not intend to announce a new cabinet until a day or two after the government presents its 2010 budget to the Storting on October ¶13. While the slight cabinet reshuffle has not yet taken form, all signs from those close to the talks continue to indicate the changes will not impact U.S. interests in any significant way, and certainly not in the defense or foreign policy areas. End Summary. Socialist Left Facing New Political Reality -------------- ¶2. (SBU) When the Labor, Socialist Left Party (SV) and Center Party (SP) leaders sat down to negotiate their first common governing platform in 2005, which became known as the Soria Moraya Declaration, it was for the first time in history. The newcomer to government at that time, SV, had campaigned on extreme positions, including about the United States and the war in Iraq, going so far as to call the U.S. "the biggest threat to world peace." This time around, the Red-Greens have governed together for four years, during which time SV moderated its positions on everything from Norway's role in NATO to Norway's continued significant participation in Afghanistan, often falling in line with Labor's lead, at least in practice. (Its individual party platform officially retains many of its more left-leaning elements, but the party has not governed from those extreme positions.) Many commentators speculated after the election that it was this moderation which led to the disappointing drop in their share of the popular vote. For Kristin Halvorsen's SV party, decisions on what concessions to make to Labor during this month's common platform negotiations will likely hinge on whether it is deemed politically viable for them to stay in a coalition government where they have to make so many concessions, or whether they can boost their chances in the 2013 elections by going back into their natural territory, the opposition. Reshuffling, with only Minor Implications for us -------------- --- ¶3. (SBU) As reporQd in Reftel, Labor increased its mandate to 35.4 percent of the electorate, making it three times the size of its two junior partners combined. SV and the other coalition member, the Center Party (SP),each received 6.2 percent of the votes. All three party leaders are keeping their cards close their chests, and as a result, few rumors have yet leaked out from the internal platform and cabinet talks. What is evident is that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Stoere (Labor),will stay in that position for another four years. Minister of Defense Anne Grete Stroem-Erichsen (Labor) is also reportedly likely to stay on, although many commentators have speculated that her deputy Espen Barth-Eide is ready for new challenges and is capable of taking on the ministerial post himself, perhaps sometime within the government's four-year term. Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen (SV) was initially rumored to want to take on an "easier" post in order to brand SV better within the government on the party's key social and environmental policies. Most coalition insiders we have spoken with now speculate, however, that she intends to hold on to the Finance portfolio. (4) (U) Before the cabinet shuffle is complete, the government has already begun to allocate committee chairmanships in the Storting, and those allocations were announced this week. At the same time, two current Labor Party ministers will definitely move from the cabinet to the Parliament to take up key positions in Parliament. The Minister of Labor and Inclusion, Dag Terje Andersen, will resign and become the new Storting President (akin to the Speaker of Parliament, and a very high ranking member of the GON hierarchy. Andersen succeeds Thorbjorn Jagland who was just elected President of the 47-nation Council of Europe. Andersen's Ministry of Labor and Inclusion is likely to be awarded to another Labor Party politician. Meanwhile, the current Minister of Fisheries, Helga Pedersen, announced that she will resign from the cabinet to become the Labor Party's parliamentary leader. In that role, she will head the party's Storting caucus which rose from 61 to 64 members with the recent elections, and she will also become essentially number two in the Labor party behind PM Stoltenberg. Terje Riis-Johansen (Center Party) who currently serves as Minister of Oil and Energy is rumored to have plans to step down. He would likely be replaced by either a Labor Party or business-friendly Center Party politician. Presentation to Parliament October 13 SV and SP May Succeed in "No to EU" and "No to Drilling" Platform Goals -------------- - ¶5. (SBU) The Socialist Left Party's main concerns have been environmental policy, asylum policy, and foreign and defense policy. The party is likely to lose the two latter battles in the current coalition platform negotiations. The Labor-led coalition has already signaled clearly and often that Norway intends to remain a steadfast partner with ISAF in Afghanistan. As for immigration and asylum policy, the Stoltenberg government can hardly go back on the new slight restrictions it finally began to put in place after harsh criticism from the right. So what battle can SV and the other junior coalition partner SP hope to win in platform negotiations? Contacts tell post that together with SP, SV is likely to win another four-year moratorium on any new Norwegian application for EU membership. The Labor Party has been internally split on the matter, anyway, and the last two applications in 1972 and 1994 ended in popular referenda against EU membership. Also together with the Center Party, SV is likely to persuade the Labor Party to drop any concrete plans it might have considered for oil drilling and exploration off the protected Lofoten and Vesteralen coast, as well as exploration off the island Jan Mayen, at least for the next four years. An independent environmental assessment is expected by 2011 on whether or not drilling in Lofoten and Vesteralen is environmentally sustainable. If at that time or any other point, the Labor Party decides to move forward on drilling, SV and SP have laid down a marker that they would leave the coalition. Opposition Parties Get Committee Chairmanships, Including Foreign Policy and Defense -------------- - ¶6. (SBU) This week, committee chairmanships for the new Parliament were awarded, as the new Storting prepares to hold its opening session on October 8. The majority party or parties in Norway don't get all the Committee chair positions; opposition parties often also get a significant share of chairmanships and of first and second deputy chairmanships. Days after she took over as Labor Party caucus leader this week, Helga Pedersen announced the following, to the delight of the opposition parties and to some grumbling from Labor party commentators who believe the party is being too generous: Labor will get the chairmanship of four committees. The next largest party, the opposition Progress Party (FrP),will get three, including - interestingly - the Justice Affairs committee, as well as Labor and Social Affairs and "Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs." The Conservative Party (Hoyre) will chair two committees, including the newly combined Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which meets for the first time this fall in that new status. (Note: In the outgoing parliament, Hoyre's Jan Pedersen chaired the Defense committee, while Labor's Olav Akselsen chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee. End note.) ¶7. (U) Governing coalition members SV and SP will get one committee chairmanship each, the Local Government and Regional Affairs Committee and the Energy and Environment Committee, respectively. The Christian Democrats (KrF),meanwhile, will chair the Transportation Committee. The small opposition party Venstre, or Liberals, was largely decimated in the recent election and is down to only two seats. It is the only party in the new parliament which will not chair a committee. Each party will nominate individuals to its assigned committee chairmanships as soon as PM Jens Stoltenberg announces his cabinet, which is currently expected to take place on October 14 or 15. HEG