Norway: minister of Justice resigns, government crisis averted

News 20 March, 2018
  • AFP

    AFP

    Tuesday, 20 march 2018 05:04

    UPDATE
    Tuesday, 20 march 2018 05:04

    Look at this article

    OSLO | The very controversial Norwegian minister of Justice Sylvi Listhaug announced his resignation Tuesday, avoiding a government crisis which arose after the publication by the elected populist to a post-Facebook offensive.

    Announced also on Facebook, the decision of Ms Listhaug, a member of the right wing anti-immigration Progress party, FrP), avoiding in extremis to the First minister, conservative Erna Solberg to ask a question of confidence, the outcome of which was uncertain.

    The minister denounced “a pure witch-hunt” of opposition to the muzzle. “I resigned but I promise not to stay silent in the midst of the Storting”, the Norwegian Parliament, she wrote on the social network.

    On 9 march, Ms Listhaug had shocked the nordic country by posting on Facebook a message in which she accused the labour party (opposition), themselves the victims of bloody terrorist attacks in 2011, considered that “the rights of terrorists are more important than the security of the nation”.

    She reproached them to oppose a proposal to be able to remove the Norwegian nationality, without going through a judge, to the individuals, threatening the vital interests of the country.

    These remarks had been deemed all the more moved that the labour party have been the main target of Anders Behring Breivik on 22 July 2011. On this day, right-wing extremist -at one time a member of the FrP – had killed 77 people in a double attack against the headquarters of the government, then led by labour’s Jens Stoltenberg, and against a camp of the Young labour party on the island of Utøya.

    The post Facebook and apologies late and deemed to be insincere, have pushed all the opposition parties to rally behind a motion of no confidence against Ms Listhaug at the risk of dropping the right-wing government, a minority Parliament.

    The question should be examined on Tuesday morning in Parliament.