Just before the summer, Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) found love with the 32-year-old architect Viktoria Millentrup.
And the first summer as newly-baked turtle doves has been a lot about tensions for Industry Minister Vestre.
Not necessarily the kind of tensions that can arise between two people, but rather about the tensions that supply Norway with electricity.
Sounding the Russian boat alarm
– She carries over with me
Because electricity prices are at a record high, and Vestre is now working on crisis measures for the business sector for which he is responsible.
– It has been a summer where electricity prices have taken up a lot of space. That’s what it’s like to be Minister of Business. And I love my job, says Vestre to Dagbladet.
– Does your girlfriend think you work a little too much, perhaps?
– No, no, no. She carries over with me, and is very well used to me talking mostly about support schemes, electricity, the green shift, offshore wind and trade balance. That’s what it’s like to be Minister of Business, says Vestre and smiles.
Internal power dispute
– Barely left the hotel beach
There was at least a week’s holiday at the Ap-toppen this summer. He and his girlfriend packed their suitcases and turned their noses towards the scorching shores of the Adriatic Sea.
– We spent a week in Croatia on a southern tour, a full-scale southern tour where we barely left the hotel’s beach once. It was my first proper trip to the south in many years. says Vestre, who admits that the experience added flavor.
LOVES THE JOB: Jan Christian Vestre says business policy is the first thing on his mind every morning. Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB
sea view
– We had big plans to see the old town in Split and everything like that, but it was too tempting to stay in the sea, he adds.
– Is that also what it’s like to be Minister of Industry?
– Sometimes it’s good to just relax in the sun, yes. It has been ten busy months, he admits.
– Great frustration in Sp
– The first thing I think of
Vestre took over the ministerial job last autumn, and assures the minister of business that he is still (at least) as enthusiastic as when he started.
– The first thing I think of when I wake up is business policy, he says.
Power support is one thing, Vestre is working on it continuously now that prices are at record highs. The long runs are about turning the Norwegian economy away from oil, towards greener and more sustainable companies.
– We have said that we will succeed in the restructuring of the Norwegian economy. And we only have this decade left. The government must create new jobs and reduce emissions. Then we have to balance short-term crisis measures against the big picture. I think we have succeeded in that. We took over the largest trade deficit from the mainland ever – and we will reverse that.
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