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Therefore, the Labor Party is targeting 36-year-old Jørgen Watne Frydnes to replace veteran politician Thorbjørn Jagland.
He will be the youngest permanent member in history and has a completely different background than the man he will replace.
I wanted a new generation
Thorbjørn Jagland has been a former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and President of the Council of Europe. He also chaired the committee from 2009 to 2014.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes has been responsible for the reconstruction of Utøya after the terrorist attack in 2011. He has also been a project manager at Doctors Without Borders and a board member of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.
– We have been concerned about bringing a new generation to the Nobel Committee when we now had to fill the post after Jagland, says Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre.
He believes that the Nobel Committee should be made up of different people who complement each other in knowledge.
– We have talked a lot about the Utøya generation and Jørgen has with him an experience that we believe is important when the committee must discuss different perspectives creating peace. It knows how to move forward after terror has struck, says Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre.
Thorbjørn Jagland chaired the Nobel Committee from 2009 to 2014. Since then, he has been a regular member.
Photo: Andersen, Aleksander / SCANPIX
More about elections
The committee’s position is considered one of the most generous in the Norwegian public. Members are formally appointed by the Storting, on the basis of naming proposals from party groups.
There are more from Jagland running for election this year:
- Thorbjørn Jagland – permanent place
- Anne Enger Lahnstein – permanent place
- Henrik Syse – permanent place
- Kristin Clemet – instead
- Inger Skjelsbæk – instead
- Sofie Høgestøl – instead
Conservatives do not want to discuss with NRK who they want to nominate, possibly rename.
The Center Party confirms that they will resign Anne Enger for a new term. Enger was elected a member after the death of the Kaci Kullmann Five in 2017. Enger was then elected for two years, from the remaining term of the Five. A normal term on the committee is six years.
SV says they want Inger Skjelsbæk to still have one of the seats free.
The last deputy is the Christian Popular Party, which has assumed the “right of nomination”, following an agreement with the Liberal Party.
The current Nobel Committee is made up of Thorbjørn Jagland (left), Henrik Syse (vice chair), Berit Reiss-Andersen (chair), Asle Toje (right) and Anne Enger. Joining Toje is the director of the Nobel Institute, Olav Njølstad.
Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB
New rules after Hagen’s noise
Political parties propose names to the Storting nominating committee, which in turn presents proposals for a plenary vote in the Storting. Usually this is to make the “stamp procedure” count.
But in 2017, there was a furor when the Progress Party wanted to bring in former FRP leader Carl I. Hagen as a replacement for Inger-Marie Ytterhorn. Hagen was then deputy representative at the Storting.
The practice has long been that sitting members of the Storting cannot be elected to the committee, as are members of the government.
Following the uproar over Hagen’s candidacy, the guidelines on who can or should not, should or should not be elected until the Nobel Committee is reviewed.
The Storting ended up by agreeing that MPs cannot be elected as members of the commission, as can permanent representatives of the Storting. Which put an end to Hagen’s Nobel dream.
Instead, it was the then research director of the Nobel Institute, Asle Toje, who stepped in for Frp. He resigned as director of research and member of the committee.
It was also decided that leaders of international organizations made up of national states cannot be elected to the Nobel Committee either. Which in the future puts an end to the dual role that Thorbjørn Jagland had, as leader of the Council of Europe and member of the Nobel Committee.
Also excluded are people with high positions in the public function, such as ministerial advisers or ambassadors.
The Storting also agreed that those who become members of the Nobel Committee can only be re-elected once. This means that committee members can sit together for 12 years.
This means that the next World Food Program awards ceremony in December will be the last Jagland will attend, after 11 years on the prestigious committee.
One of the most controversial peace prizes in Thorbjørn Jagland’s time on the Nobel Committee was the Barack Obama Prize.
Photo: PISCINA / PISCINA
It does not exclude politicians in the future
Jonas Gahr Støre does not rule out the Labor Party electing one with a political background the next time it nominates a new member.
– This time we thought something more was needed. Something new. Next time, it may be different. I think that political competence and direct government experience, which Thorbjørn Jagland has represented, is important.
– Anne Enger now has this competition. Then we’ll see what we think is needed in three years, says Støre.
