Kåre Willoch

Kåre Willoch, 1983

Willoch and Helmut Kohl in Wiesbaden 1988

Kåre Isaachsen Willoch (born October 3, 1928 in Oslo ; † December 6, 2021 there ) was a Norwegian politician of the conservative Høyre party . From August to September 1963 and from October 1965 to June 1970 he was his country's Minister of Commerce and Shipping. Between October 1981 and May 1986 he was Prime Minister of Norway . From 1958 to 1989 he was a member of parliament in Storting . He was then to 1998 Fylkesmann of Oslo and Akershus . From 1970 to 1974 Willoch headed the Høyre party.

Life

Willoch grew up in a middle class family in the west of Oslo . He attended the Kristelig Gymnasium in Oslo from 1942 to 1944 and the Norwegian Gymnasium in the Swedish city of Uppsala in 1945 . In 1947 he finished his school days at the high school in Ullern . In 1948 Willoch did his military service as a Norwegian occupation soldier in Germany. In 1953 he finished his studies in economics at the University of Oslo . During his studies he worked for the Norwegian Shipping Association ( Norges Rederforbund ) from 1951 to 1952 , and from 1954 he worked for the Norwegian Industry Association ( Norges Industriforbund ). In addition, Willoch was involved in local politics during this time and he sat on the Oslo City Council from 1951 to 1959.

Member of Storting and Minister

In the parliamentary elections in 1957 , Willoch moved into the Norwegian national parliament in Storting for the first time . He represented the Oslo constituency and became a member of the Finance and Customs Committee. Even after the 1961 election , he was initially a member of this committee again and became part of the Høyre parliamentary group. On August 28, 1963, he was appointed Minister of Commerce and Shipping in the newly formed Lyng government. The government lasted less than a month until September 25, 1963. Willoch then returned to the Storting. There he sat on the administrative committee for the remainder of the legislative period that lasted until autumn 1965. From 1963 to the Stortingswahl in 1965 he acted as general secretary of the Høyre party.

On October 12, 1965, Willochs was reappointed Minister of Commerce and Shipping. As such, he was a member of the Borten government . He held his office until June 5, 1970. He had previously been elected as the new chairman of his party in April 1970. After he had to suspend his mandate as a member of the government, he returned to parliament in June 1970. There he became chairman of the Høyre group and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Constitutional Committees. He remained in this committee after the Storting elections in 1973 and 1977 and he also continued his work as parliamentary group chairman. In 1974 he resigned as party chairman and Erling Norvik succeeded him.

Prime Minister

His party was successful in the 1981 Storting election and was able to form the first government since 1928 without the participation of other parties. Kåre Willoch took over the office of State Minister on October 14, 1981, i.e. Prime Minister. The Willoch government took over from the Brundtland I government . In June 1983 Willoch's minority government became a majority government through the participation of Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF) and Senterpartiet (Sp). In the 1985 general election , the government lost its majority. Willoch's time as Prime Minister ended on May 9, 1986 after he was unable to obtain a majority in Storting to increase petrol taxes. The Brundtland II government followed . The public political debate in Norway in the 1980s was heavily influenced by the debates between Willoch and the Arbeiderpartiet politician Gro Harlem Brundtland .

The innovations of the government period included the liberalization of shop opening times, the establishment of local radio stations and the approval of private clinics. A low interest rate policy , which was hardly controversial at the time, increased private debt. At the same time, the income from oil production was generously fed into the economic cycle, which led to an overheating of the economy and a short time later to a crisis in the Norwegian banking sector between 1987 and 1991. In terms of foreign and defense policy, Willoch's government supported NATO's 1979 double resolution .

Return to parliament and end his career

After his tenure as Prime Minister, Willoch returned to Storting for his last legislative term. There he became chairman of the Foreign and Constitutional Committee and again a member of the Høyre parliamentary group. In 1987 he was in talks as NATO Secretary General , but he lost to Manfred Wörner . From 1987 to 1989 he headed the International Democratic Union , from 1987 to 1991 he was the President of the German-Norwegian Society in Norway.

In the parliamentary elections in 1989 Willoch did not run again to become Fylkesmann (now Statsforvalter ) of Oslo and Akershus . He held the post until 1998 when he reached the age limit for the office. He was then chairman of the board of the Norwegian broadcaster NRK until 2000 .

Private

In 1954 he married Anne Marie Jørgensen. The couple have three children together.

Awards

• 1996: Order of Saint Olav (Commander with a star)
• 1997: Fritt Ord Prize
• 2005: Willy Brandt Prize

Web links

Commons : Kåre Willoch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikiquote: Kåre Willoch  - Quotes (Norwegian)

• Kåre Willoch at Storting (Norwegian)
• Kåre Willoch in Norsk biografisk leksikon (Norwegian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Norway's ex-Prime Minister Willoch is dead. In: ORF. December 6, 2021, accessed December 6, 2021 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Harald Stanghelle: Kåre Willoch. In: Norsk biografisk leksikon. Retrieved December 6, 2021 (Norwegian). 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Biographies: Willoch, Kåre. In: Stortinget. Retrieved December 6, 2021 (Norwegian). 
4. ↑ Tysklandsbrigades. In: tysklandsbrigaden.no. Retrieved December 6, 2021 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Kåre Willoch. In: regjeringen.no. Accessed December 6, 2021 . 
6. ↑ Kåre Willoch ble formann . In: Østlendingen . April 27, 1970, p. 1 (Norwegian, nb.no [accessed December 6, 2021]).
7. ↑ ^{a b} Kåre Willochs regjering. In: regjeringen.no. Retrieved December 6, 2021 (Norwegian). 
8. ^ Svein Vestrum Olsson: Kåre Willoch er død. In: NRK. December 6, 2021, accessed December 6, 2021 (Norwegian (Bokmål)). 

predecessor	government office	Successor
Gro Harlem Brundtland	Prime Minister of Norway 1981–1986	Gro Harlem Brundtland