Bondevik’s life in tension – Dagsavisen

Jens Stoltenberg has had a formidable international career after his time as prime minister. The late Kåre Willoch managed to be a well-regarded national critic as a pensioner. For ex-prime ministers Thorbjørn Jagland and Kjell Magne Bondevik, things have gotten worse. They have struggled more with their public profiles. Did they become too idealistic?

Bondevik has again come to the headlines because of the large deficit in the Oslo center foundation in 2021. The center is inextricably linked to his name where he still sits as chairman. The deficit of NOK 1.5 million is well over 10 per cent of a turnover of just over NOK 13 million. According to Vårt Land, the equity is lost, and this has led to remarks from the auditor. The Danish Foundations Authority now has the center under observation.

[ Bente Rognan Gravklev: Dagen som alltid kommer tilbake. ]

The outside world has not been aware of all the problems in the foundation. Recently, it became known that several years ago the center was hit by embezzlement from a trusted employee. The negative events add to the series of embarrassing setbacks for the former KrF leader. The party, to which he devoted his entire professional life, is down for the count. Nor has there been a tailwind for Bondevik in the international arena. A laudatory mention of the corrupt regime in Kazakhstan received a lot of negative attention because Bondevik gave consent for the chronicle to be used in an advertising supplement for Kazakhstan. Bondevik has defended the content of the chronicle, but has regretted that he allowed its use in an advertisement supplement. It became particularly sensitive because he received a fee for the article.

A laudatory mention of the corrupt regime in Kazakhstan received a lot of negative attention because Bondevik gave consent for the chronicle to be used in an advertising supplement for Kazakhstan.

As president of the Oslo center, Bondevik has operated widely in the international arena.

For a long time it seemed that his close contact with Aung San Suu Kyi would contribute to the development of democracy, but that has also faded as development in Myanmar has taken its odd course.

[ Dagsavisen mener: Bonuser med bismak. ]

If we rewind 25 years, it is quite a contrast to the personal days of jubilation that Valgerd Svarstad Haugland and Kjell Magne Bondevik experienced after the election in 1997. Thorbjørn Jagland’s 36.9 percent ultimatum gave the bourgeois side an opportunity. Against all odds, Kjell Magne Bondevik became prime minister. When he took up the position in 1997, no one would have thought that he would become one of the longest-serving bourgeois heads of government, only beaten by Erna Solberg.

It is now 17 years since he “left” Norwegian politics, but the whole time he has been playing behind the scenes as an interlocutor for various leaders in the Christian People’s Party. The party became his great life’s work, but after his appointment as prime minister in 2005, things have gone as wrong as can be with the Christian Democratic Party. Internal disputes came like pearls on a string.The misery peaked with the housing case for Kjell Ingolf Ropstad just before the parliamentary elections in 2021. According to internal evaluations, this was decisive for KrF falling below the blocking limit.

The party became his great life’s work, but after his appointment as prime minister in 2005, things have gone as wrong as can be with the Christian Democratic Party.

Bondevik has been characterized by his opponents as a political tactician and horse trader. There were not a few settlements in which he was involved as a parliamentarian. He got through a lot to KrF’s advantage. The crowning achievement was when the Conservative Party’s Jan Petersen was outmaneuvered in the fight for the prime minister’s post in 2001.

[ Sigrid Bonde Tusvik: Sommeren er en klisje vi trenger. ]

Describing Bondevik as sly and calculating does not in any way give a complete and true picture of Molde’s great son. Idealism was what led him into politics, and this has been driving him to this day. Perhaps the desire to “save the world” is what has given the soon-to-be 75-year-old Bondevik the problems he is now struggling with. Getting money for the newly established Oslo center was not difficult when he had just stepped down as prime minister. Rich people like Stein Erik Hagen were interested in basking in the glory of a top politician.

But neither “a ski guard” nor a retired prime minister “lasts forever, you know”. Kjell Magne Bondevik experienced this painfully.

But neither “a ski guard” nor a retired prime minister “lasts forever, you know”. Kjell Magne Bondevik experienced this painfully. It became more and more difficult to obtain private funds, and the center became more and more dependent on public money. Now the income does not match the expenses.

Kjell Magne Bondevik could hardly have imagined that his retirement days would have to be used for a financial rescue operation for a democracy foundation. A financial bankruptcy for the foundation will be a heavy blow to bear. The question is how many will stand up to save the stumps.

Bondevik is probably doing some reflection on why so much went so wrong on various fronts. Perhaps it is as simple as that Jens Stoltenberg had luck and timing, and that Bondevik had bad luck with his endeavors to make the world a better place. The title of his biography from 2006 was “An Exciting Life”. The author has really experienced that even after the book came out.

[ Linn Stalsberg: Bannons farlige metode. ]

Keep yourself updated. Get a daily newsletter from Dagsavisen

–