Haakon in political problems

The Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Trond Giske, is in the middle of assembling a council of young business leaders to give advice where Norway should focus its efforts in the future.

This weekend, it was revealed that Crown Prince Haakon had accepted a position on this council. It ended up with a bit of debate in the papers, where some thought it was a good idea, whereas others thought that it might not be the best thing. The Norwegian monarchy is supposed to be politically neutral, or as politically neutral as they can get.

This would have been moderately fine, if only Giske had asked the Prime Minister about the situation beforehand, and set boundaries as to what the Crown Prince could work with. But he did not do the first thing. (No information on the latter item.) It would still have been problematic regarding the royal house being political neutral, but at least the Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, would not have been caught unaware on the issue.

As a result of the media problems this matter has caused (presumably to Giske, as he’s been the hardest hit by the critique) he has gone in a dialogue with the Palace, and the latest news is that the Crown Prince has withdrawn from the council.

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