Erna Solberg on Sylvi Listhaug and Conservative cooperation, Digi Mart USA News (Norway): Former Conservative leader and Prime Minister Erna Solberg says Progress Party leader Sylvi Listhaug should stop pursuing a go-it-alone approach and begin building cooperation on the centre-right. Solberg made the remarks in an interview with the Norwegian newspaper VG, which was published on Thursday.
In her autobiography “Mitt liv som Erna,” Solberg mentions Listhaug roughly 100 times. She writes, “I had zero faith that she could become prime minister.” Asked whether she hopes Listhaug will change course before the next Storting election, Solberg said: “I hope she chooses a different course, because I am concerned about conservative cooperation.”
Solberg said her aim in the book was to be honest about how she experienced events, not to damage Listhaug’s reputation. She said she also wrote that Listhaug is very capable.
Several commentators have described the book’s portrayal as a character assassination. Listhaug told VG on Thursday afternoon: “I do not recognize her account of me.” VG said it had presented Solberg’s quotes to Listhaug but had not yet received a response.
Solberg said she sensed that the Progress Party was tired of the coalition in the period before it left her government in January 2020, when only Siv Jensen wanted to continue. She said Listhaug’s unwillingness to develop shared positions within the government created internal difficulties, particularly toward the end.
She added that when Listhaug did not get exactly what she wanted, she preferred defeats she could use politically.
Solberg, who has two and a half years left as an ordinary Storting representative, said she and Listhaug sit on the same committee and that she hopes Listhaug will eventually embrace conservative cooperation. She said that is a discussion the Progress Party must have with itself, adding that people cannot be forced.
On the new Conservative leadership’s approach toward the Progress Party, Solberg said that is for the new leadership to decide, but that the party should focus on its own political priorities and alternatives rather than being guided by the question of cooperation.
Solberg also said the Progress Party is now roughly twice the size of the Conservatives, and that the balance of power is likely to change before the election, which is almost three years away. She argued that focusing on its own policies was the approach the Conservatives used in the previous cycle and could be used again.
