Erna Solberg

Erna Solberg (born 2 February 1961 in Bergen) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party.

She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Hordaland in 1989, and was re-elected on four occasions. From 2001 to 2005, when the second cabinet Bondevik held office, Solberg was Minister of Local Government and Regional Development. Her tough policies in this department have earned her the nickname "Iron Erna". During this period her seat in parliament was taken by Silja Ekeland Bjørkly.

Solberg obtained an undergraduate degree in sociology, political science, statistics and economics at the University of Bergen in 1986.

On the local level Solberg was a deputy member of Bergen city council in the periods 1979–1983 and 1987–1989, the last period in the executive committee. She chaired local and municipal chapters of the Young Conservatives and the Conservative Party. She was the leader of the nationwide Conservative Women Association from 1994 to 1998, served as deputy leader of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2004 and became party leader in 2004.

On April 9, 2008 it was revealed that Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu's request for asylum in Norway was rejected in 2004 by Solberg when she was Minister of Local Government and Regional Development. While the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration had been prepared to grant Vanunu asylum, it was suddenly decided that the application could not be accepted because Vanunu had applied for it from outside of the borders of Norway. An unclassified document revealed that Solberg and the government considered that extracting Vanunu from Israel might be seen as an action against Israel and thereby unfitting the Norwegian government's tradition role as a friend of Israel and as a political player in the Middle East. Since the information has been revealed, Solberg has rejected criticism and defended her decision. [1] [2] [3]

Preceded by Sylvia Brustad	Norwegian Minister of Local Government 2001–2005	Succeeded by Åslaug Haga
Preceded by Jan Petersen	Chairman of the Conservative Party 2004 – present	Incumbent