Elections in Norway: the issue of oil
Ulrikke Torgersen, candidate of the Norwegian Ecologist Party (MDG) in the parliamentary elections of September 13, 2021, poses in front of the petroleum museum in Stavanger, the constituency where she is running, on August 30, 2021. AFP - PETTER BERNTSEN
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The Norwegians vote in the legislative elections this Monday, September 13.
According to polls, the country is moving towards alternation: after two terms, the conservative Erna Solberg could give way to her Labor rival.
But a question crosses both camps: what to do with oil, of which Norway is the largest European producer?
Should we continue to pump black gold and contribute to the deterioration of the climate, or should we turn off the taps?
Advertising
Read more
With our correspondent in Oslo,
Frédéric Faux
and
Béatrice Leveillé
,
from the International service
Norway has negotiated the Covid-19 epidemic well.
Unemployment is below 5%.
It is a rich country, with a
sovereign fund of 1,200 billion euros
, the largest woolen socks in the world.
At the source of this prosperity, oil, of which Norway is the largest producer in Western Europe, is increasingly questioned.
Environmentalists are calling for an immediate end to oil exploration.
But their natural ally, Labor, who should logically succeed the ruling Conservative Party, are not ready to sacrifice the oil industry on the altar of climate change.
They prefer to preserve a sector which represents 14% of the GDP, plus 40% of national exports and which employs 160,000 people.
Pointed out for being one of the main culprits of climate change, black gold has enabled Norway to finance its generous welfare state and important measures for the climate, recalls
Stanislas Ndayishymie
, of the Economics department of RFI.
Among them, the incentive to
buy electric cars locally
and internationally, the protection of tropical forests and the capture and storage of carbon dioxide.
►
See also: Norway: the country wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 55% by 2030
Labor may find it difficult to form a majority
"
We want to stop oil production in 2035,"
says Beatriz, an activist with the Norwegian Greens.
Labor say we need more time, but we don't have all that time!
"
The Greens are not the only potential allies of the left to be on this line.
Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre, from a family of industrialists, could therefore have difficulty forming a majority.
“
The most likely is a new center-left government after the elections,
” sociologist Johannes Bergh explains.
But it could depend on the support of the more radical Left Party, and even the Greens, who want to shut down the oil industry as soon as possible.
Many voters are mobilized by the environment and climate change.
"
With the last report of the IPCC and the climatic catastrophes of this summer, the partisans of this stop of oil still progressed in the polls.
It remains to be seen whether this will translate into the ballot box.
►
Read also: Global warming: new heat record in northern Norway
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Norway
On the same subject
Transport chronicle
Automotive: Norway, the electric kingdom