– I hope I never experience this again.

In her seventh year as Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg has truly felt what it has been like to lead a country in crisis.

The pandemic is in its ninth month, tens of thousands of people continue to be laid off, and many feel enormous uncertainty in early 2021.

It is a burden Solberg feels.

– It has been a tough and demanding year, and there have been many challenges to face, says the Prime Minister in a longer interview with TV 2.

Norway is closing

On March 12, Erna Solberg took the podium at the Prime Minister’s residence and spoke with the Norwegian people. Words are imprinted on most of us.

– The measures that are implemented against corona infection are the most intrusive we have had in Norway in peacetime. We’ve been through tough times before and we want to get through this too. More people will die of corona in Norway and planned operations will be postponed.

Norway closed, as did much of the rest of the world. The violent scale of the pandemic was a fact.

– It was lived both as a burden and very necessary, but also very demanding. We went out into unknown waters, not knowing if it would work and how long it would last.

At the same time, the Prime Minister realized that this was just the beginning of many other tasks.

– When you close so much, many other problems arise that you have to start with.

– Important to remember

The Prime Minister says that there have been difficult decisions related to the application of strict measures at one point.

– It is important to remember that it is a disease that means that 1.6 million Norwegians may be in the so-called vulnerable group and therefore can become seriously ill. This means that the alternative of having strict rules for everyone would have been a very strong form of isolation that would not have been possible. Older people cannot be locked up in nursing homes.

Solberg does not hide the fact that some have paid a higher bill than others during the pandemic.

– We can all take action and everyone can experience some restrictions, but then it becomes more difficult for those who are most scared, those who lose their job and their life’s work.

– Is there someone you have thought much more about?

– I have thought a lot about those who have been laid off and unemployed. There are people who experience insecurity for a long period of time. Fortunately, many went back to work during the summer, but there are some who have been laid off all along. Especially those who work in the aviation and hospitality industry have experienced the greatest challenge.

Stuck on a controversial decision

The Prime Minister says he has been demanding that he cannot give people clear answers.

– There are many who want more predictability, but we cannot plan, because this virus is not easy to plan, he admits.

After a spring with high infection rates and strict measures, the authorities decided to ease most things until the summer. In July, the borders were also opened and people were able to travel freely in Europe. Solberg insists it was the right decision.

– It was very important that we opened this summer. It was important for jobs and it was important that people could breathe and get more done. When one has low infection, it would be disproportionate with closed borders. But we’ve been quick to toughen up, when things have gotten worse.

And that became necessary fairly quickly after the borders were opened in mid-July. The green lands quickly turned red again, and the race to avoid quarantine was on.

– I remember the race with the Spanish planes, and it was a funny joke. It may seem illogical that if you land after 12 o’clock you will end up in quarantine. But we must have some rules, and at some point there must be an intersection.

– People are not stupid

After a summer with little infection and few measures, the infection returned in full force this fall. The second wave was a fact. New measures were implemented in a population already tired of measures.

– There was no doubt that someone was tired of the action. It is difficult to stay motivated when the infection was low. People are not stupid, and when there is little infection, people think that there is little danger that I and those around me will get infected. So they think it’s not that dangerous, and that we worry too much about the subway, says Solberg and continues:

– That we did not allow wide soccer to be played, for example, they kept us quiet a lot. But it is the sum of all activities that helps spread the infection. If we had had big tournaments and normal matches, the infection would have come faster in Norway.

There is no doubt that 2020 has been a year marked by great challenges. And Erna Solberg has really come to know what it’s like to lead a country in crisis.

– Norway is a good country to be a leader both in a crisis and in other situations. We trust each other and have good ways of talking and treating each other. You could trust that people would follow what was recommended, without us having to regulate it in such detail.

– we are stricter

The Prime Minister believes that it is precisely the way we Norwegians are as a people that has enabled us to keep the infection low, compared to much of the rest of Europe and the world.

– It’s a bit because we defend each other, but we probably also do some different things than in other countries. We use more quarantine, we are stricter at entry, and we monitor infections more systematically. It’s demanding for those with large outbreaks, but we find out who is potentially infected.

Solberg is aware that the Norwegian spirit of hard work has persisted, and it has.

– People have really stood up for each other. We’ve also had a lot of people working on the front line, who have made a real effort to make sure that we get the big picture, that people are quarantined, and that the infection is stopped.

With just a few days until 2020, Erna Solberg remembers last year as demanding and different.

– It is a year that I do not want to return, and I do not expect to experience that deprivation again.

Dreams of dancing

– Is there a special moment that you remember very well?

– I have many small and great moments. It is March 12 and closing, but also the joy of being on school visits when we reopen. I will also remember when I went to Østmarka in Oslo and saw all the hammocks that appeared, because people had to spend their time in Oslo instead of in the cabin.

The sea

The sea

The sea

The sea

The Prime Minister says her greatest wish and hope for next year is that we get enough vaccines so that we can lift the restrictions.

– I hope we have a summer where we can listen to live music, be many together and that we can live some groves normally. We have to cross our fingers so that everything works out, but nobody can be sure.

And Solberg has no doubts about what she will do herself when the measures are relaxed.

– Inviting many people to a company, is what I want now. Stand nearby or be at an outdoor restaurant and maybe dance. Preferably for live music.