Erna Solberg, right | Boring enough to win the next election

By Snorre Valen, Political Editor of Nidaros

This is a comment that was first posted on Nidaros. It is the attitude of the writer that is expressed.

One thing that immediately strikes me when I listen to the political debate at the Conservative Party national meeting is where carefree it is. Not without worrying about the challenges we all face, but without worrying that so many will disagree with them.

In the world of the Conservative National Assembly, there is no social unrest over growing differences, no fear of the new patriotism of the Center Party, a response to people’s frustration with centralization, some eye for the fierce resistance to the wind of the people from the coast, or some discomfort over our growing skepticism towards cities and the EU. Conservatives live well with all of that, almost so that it doesn’t concern them. Conservatives have other answers, and have positioned themselves not to have to follow almost where the political winds blow.

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This is in contrast to the Labor Party at the moment, which seems to think that each and every one of these issues that characterize the spirit of the age are painful, difficult and dangerous to address.

The national gathering of the Conservatives opened with an incomprehensible collage of disco opera, folk music, Poirot’s theme song, and the Miami House-inspired marching band. The contrast between the completely absurdly energetic opening number on the one hand and Erna Solberg’s calm, almost fascinating speaking style on the other, must have been intentional. Because instead of spreading it to the Prime Minister, the whole show around her made sure to highlight just how dry her speech really was. In a good way.

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Naughty points and charismatic speaking ability have never been Erna Solberg’s strength. I think she cares about that in the middle of her leg. Because she perfects another art, much to the frustration of her opponents (and I’m talking about past experience here): that is, her own ability to convey that she has the correct overview of everything that is important in this world. A tone dominates that affirms that it is so, without sounding aggressive, but still without opening up to further debate. The feeling one is left with is a bit like Erna has an overview, so we can all let it go.

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Because when Erna Solberg speaks at the national meeting of the Conservative Party, it’s hard not to let the concentration slip from time to time. This is not exactly a firework. But the fascinating thing is that one is left alone with that enough. Solberg wants to guide us safely through the crisis of the crown. Solberg talks a little more about the weather than expected, as he usually does. Solberg will invest in new technology to create climate-friendly jobs. Solberg will focus on competition to ensure that no one “goes out of date” in working life. Solberg is satisfied with the tax cuts she has implemented. Solberg loves the deal with the EEA and, unlike his rival Jonas Gahr Støre, he can bet a little more on the first Norwegian populism of the Center Party.

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In other words, there was almost nothing new to trace in the speech, but that’s not the point. Because, unlike Jens Stoltenberg, she is about to serve eight years as prime minister without having a successful opponent for the prime ministerial candidate. Is hard to understand. When Erna Solberg became prime minister in 2013, it was something of a coronation after many years of progress. The contrast to the current situation, where the opposition leader is caught in a swamp of historically bad opinion polls, is huge. And almost inconceivable, in a time of record unemployment, district and coastal uprisings. This should have been an open goal for the Labor Party.

And that it may still be difficult for the Conservatives to win next year’s Storting elections does not seem to bother Erna Solberg in the least. If she loses, it is after the longest continuous tenure in Conservative history. And if she wins, it will be even more historic. If the right wing wins the next election, it will have the opportunity, and the mandate, to implement more bourgeois policies than any government has been able to in Norway before, with all that that implies. And the political map may end up changing forever, when a whole generation of Social Democrats, for the first time since the war, grows up in an eternal opposition party.

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Erna Solberg knows it. He enters the next election campaign with the lowest shoulders that any candidate for prime minister has ever had. Just fit popular. It just fits controversial. She just fits in without being bothered by the criticism she receives when she flirts with the FRP again, while the rest of Europe eschews right-wing populism the best it can.

Just fine. And boring enough to win the next election.