Marte Mjøs Persen (born 24 April 1975) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. She served as minister of labour and social inclusion from 2022 to 2023, and minister of petroleum and energy from 2021 to 2022. She served as the mayor of Bergen from 2015 until being elected to the Storting in 2021.
Political career
Local politics
Persen is a former member of the Red Electoral Alliance, and served as deputy chairman from 2003 to 2007, when the alliance merged to form the Red Party. She left the Red Party in 2008 after internal disagreements. She has been elected member of the city council in Bergen since 2003, first representing the Red Electoral Alliance, and from 2008 the Labour Party. In 2015 she was elected mayor in Bergen, and reelected in 2019.
In March 2023, she was elected the leader of the Vestland Labour Party, with Helge Robert Midtbø and Torgeir Toppe as deputy leaders.
Parliament
She was elected representative to the Storting from the constituency of Hordaland for the period 2021–2025, for the Labour Party. While being part of the Støre Cabinet from 2021, Lubna Jaffery met in the Storting in her place, and in 2023 Benjamin Jakobsen met.
Minister of Petroleum and Energy
On 14 October 2021, Mjøs Persen was appointed minister of petroleum and energy in Støre's Cabinet.
2021
As the new minister of energy Persen faced a delicate problem. The wind farms of (80 mills) and (71 mills) are situated within Fosen Reindeer District (), and they are built in spite of loud protests from the Sami People. A recent ruling in the Supreme Court ruled that the windmills were set up in violation of the rights of the indigenous people, thus illegally, and the license granted by the ministry in 2013 was illegal.
Regarding the electricity price crisis, Persen promised measures to give people a lower price. She stated that the government would take a look at both short- and long-term solutions.
In the Storting question time on 27 October, Persen acknowledged that electrification of the Norwegian shelf would require an increased use of power on land in the short term up until 2030.
Person met the lawyers representing the Sami people in the issue of the wind farms within the Fosen area, on 2 November. She didn't offer a solution to the matter as the issue stood, but emphasised that she prioritised the state's duty for the people and for the Sami population. She also said she would be meeting the Sami people effected face to face, as soon as possible.
In December, she and fellow ministers Anniken Huitfeldt and Jan Christian Vestre, and Crown Prince Haakon visited the United States to promote Norwegian interests notably regarding "War, the Arctic, offshore wind, contemporary art and Christmas trees". Persen notably cited that they were going to visit Equinor's recently opened Brooklyn office in relation to the ongoing offshore wind projects outside of New York. Persen decided to travel home after only a day out of the four scheduled days to spend in the U. S, citing to compensate for a state secretary with a child who had to be home due to a COVID-19 closed kindergarten. Her chief of communication, Arvid Samland, denied that her return home was due to Progress Party leader Sylvi Listhaug's criticism of Persen's visit.
2022
In a written response to the Progress Party's Marius Arion Nilsen on 4 January 2022, Persen revealed that the electricity prices would be around 13,000 NOK in Southern Norway for the first quarter. The usual cost is around 7,000 NOK. In her response, she said: "I would like to emphasize that these estimates are average calculations made by NVE based on various assumptions. Actual electricity bill will vary from household to household".
Persen received criticism by the media and the Socialist Left Party for not participating at Storting sessions when asked to do so. She responded by saying that it was the Prime Minister's Office who was responsible to call a minister in to attend sessions, and insisted that she had participated whenever asked to. Stavanger Aftenblad encouraged Støre to reconsider her position.
During a minor reshuffle on 7 March 2022, she was appointed Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion.
Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion
Following Hadia Tajik's resignation after controversy regarding the use of a government apartment and fringe benefit; Persen was appointed her successor on 7 March 2022.