Europe 1 with AFP 6:17 p.m., April 9, 2022

Norway's defense minister has resigned, the government announced on Saturday, after an affair with a woman much younger than him for several years was revealed.

At the start of the relationship, in 2005, the girl was only 18 years old, while Odd Roger Enoksen was 50 years old.

A twist in Norway.

The Minister of Defense resigned from his post, after the revelation of an affair with a woman much younger than him for several years.

“It is a necessary decision,” commented Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store during a press conference on Saturday morning, where he confirmed that he had accepted the resignation of Odd Roger Enoksen.

"I made bad choices (...) and I will apologize unreservedly" because "my actions have made life more difficult for others", Odd Roger Enoksen had declared a little earlier to the agency. Norwegian press NTB.

At the beginning of the relationship, the girl was 18 years old

Odd Roger Enoksen started a relationship in 2005 with an 18-year-old high school girl he had met during a school trip made by the latter with her class in Oslo, according to the Norwegian daily VG.

The group of students had visited the Norwegian Parliament and met the then 50-year-old Minister of Defence.

After the school trip, the politician and the high school student began what would become a very close and sexual relationship, says

VG

.

They met at least 12 times in Odd Roger Enoksen's office between late 2006 and 2007, when he was energy minister, the woman, now in her thirties, testified to the daily, claiming that some of these encounters resulted in "sexual acts".

The minister defends himself

She also recounted her admiration for the politician, saying he "used his power and his position to get what he wanted."

If the ex-minister confirmed with

VG

the visits of the young woman in his office as well as discussions of an obscene nature, he however denied any physical rapprochement.

The relationship only became intimate after he left the government in 2007, he stressed, saying it was not a relationship “in which I was in a position of power over her” .

The Prime Minister told reporters that Odd Roger Enoksen had not informed him of the affair before he was appointed Defense Minister last October, adding that this information would have led to a "different conclusion".

The head of government added that he wanted to find a new defense minister as soon as possible.