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The Progress Party (Bokmål: Fremskrittspartiet, Nynorsk: Framstegspartiet, Norwegian abbreviation: FrP) is the second most voted political party in Norway as of the 2005 parliamentary elections. It is classified in academia as a radical right-wing populist party. The FrP advocates, among other things, strict limits on immigration, free market economics and deregulation of the economy, closer cooperation with Israel and the United States in foreign policy, the abolition of state aid to developing countries, social and cultural conservatism, and the decentralization of government. Its current chairman is Siv Jensen.

History

Foundation

The Progress Party was found on April 8, 1973 with an address held by Anders Lange. Anders Lange intended the party to be more like a protest movement than a regular political party. The protest was directed against what was claimed to be an unacceptably high level of taxes, subsidies, and regulations, against government interventionism, and against the social democrat "nanny state".

The party started off with an unusually long name, "Anders Lange's Party for strong reductions of taxes, charges and government intervention", usually refered to as "Anders Lange' Party", or "ALP". It adopted its current name in 1977.

The first election, in 1973, gave Anders Lange 5%, and four seats in the Norwegian parliament.

In the 2005 parliamentary elections, it was the second largest party in Storting, with 22.1% of the votes and 37 seats (up from third-largest with 14.6% and 26 seats in the 2001 elections).

The Hagen Era Begins

Following Lange, there was a brief series of party leaders, until Carl I. Hagen, after the party's poor result in the 1977 election, took control of the party in 1978:

• Anders Lange
• Eivind Eckbo (interim)
• Arve Lønnum

Carl I. Hagen was the chairman of Frp from 1978 to 2006. Hagen had intentions to build up a strong party organization. Under his leadership Frp gained markedly increased popular support.

In the parliamentary election in 1989, the party obtained 13%, and became the third largest party in Norway. It started to gain power in some local administrations. In 1990, Peter Myhre, of Frp, became the mayor of Oslo.

The 1993 election halved the party's support to 6.3% and 10 representatives. In 1994, four representatives of the "libertarian wing" broke out, formed an independent group in parliament, and founded the libertarian organization Fridemokratene which tried to organize like a political party, but without success.

In the 1997 election, Frp obtained 15.3%, and was again the third largest party.

In the local election in 1999, Progress-Party's Terje Søviknes was elected mayor of Os. 20 municipalities got a deputy mayor from the Progress Party.

Expulsion of The Democrats

Before the 2001 election, Frp enjoyed a high level of popular support in 1999–2000, but its support fell back to 1997 levels in the actual election, following both internal turmoil (the then second vice-chairman of the party, Terje Søviknes, was involved in a sex scandal) and internal disagreements. This time, several populist local representatives in Oslo and some parliamentarians resigned from the party. Some "soloists", as they were called, were suspended, including Vidar Kleppe, who was suspended for two years, or expelled, as was Jan Simonsen. The "populists" formed a party called The Democrats, with Vidar Kleppe as chairman and Jan Simonsen as vice-chairman.

Recent Elections

In the Norwegian parliamentary election, 2001, Frp lost the advance it had on polls, but maintained its position from the 1997 election, and got 14.6% and 26 members in the parliament.

The Progress party had run a campaign promising to unseat the Labour government of Jens Stoltenberg, and kept that promise by supporting the new minority government of Kjell Magne Bondevik, although the three parties in that coalition declined to govern together with the Progress party, saying that the political distance was too large.

In 2002, the Progress party advanced again in polls, and for a short while it even became the largest party, with a strong margin in December 2002.

The local elections in 2003 were a success for Frp. In 30 municipalities, the party gained more votes than any other, but it succeeded to elect the mayor only in 13 of these. The Progress Party has participated in local elections since 1975, but until 2003 the party has only gained the mayor position twice. The Progress Party vote in Os—the only municipality that elected a Progress Party mayor in 1999—increased from 36.6% in 1999 to 45.7% in 2003. The party gained ground across the country, but more so in municipalities where the party had the mayor or the deputy mayor.

In 2003 Hagen declared his withdrawal as chairman in 2006. His successor is economist Siv Jensen.

Election results and leadership

• Anders Lange
• Eivind Eckbo (interim)
• Arve Lønnum
• Carl I. Hagen (2006 retirement announced in 2003)
• Siv Jensen

Ideology

The party's official program (in Norwegian) can be found at this Website.

Principles

The Progress Party declares itself to be liberalistic, built on Norwegian and western traditions and cultural heritages, with basis in a Christian and humanist understanding of life. Its main declared goal is a strong reduction in taxes, charges, and government intervention.

Society and Economy

The Progress Party places highly in its program the right of the individual to decide about its own life and economy, and claims the individual is, together with the family and the right to own private property, the fundamental of society. The party does not want the state to solve problems that can be handled better by individuals, private companies or organizations. It also proposes to increase taxation on consumption to compensate for reduced taxation on work, although it has given very high priority to reduction of gas taxes and supported the reduction of food taxes from 24% to 12%. It opposes a recently posed suggestion to raise the taxes by one percent, to 13%.

Democracy

The party suggests to introduce decentralisation and binding referenda. In Norway, the result of a referendum is not binding, even if in practice politicians have always followed their indications. Furthermore, it is for an abolition of the current laws that make a vote cast in a large Norwegian county more important than one cast in Oslo. Since it is considered an entity based on ethnicity, the party wants to abolish the Norwegian branch of the Sami parliament.

Labour economics

The party proposes a deregulation in the job market, so that laws shall not pose any limit on the type of contract that employer and employee want, except for safety and health requirements.

Welfare State

The Progress Party is not for a reduction of the welfare state, but wants to reorganize the way payment is distributed, to allow for competition and private production of such goods. Payment should follow the individual consumer of government financed welfare goods. The Progress Party has also long been known to be in favour of increased support for the elderly, that have become one of their main electoral groups.

Ecology

The Party does not have ecology as a main issue, but claims to be in favour of sustainable development.

Role of the State

The role of the state is considered to be limited to a few areas:

Military

With a close cooperation with NATO;

Foreign policy

Based on the protection of Norwegian interests, with closer cooperation with the United States and closer relationship with Israel, and abolition of state-financed help to third-world countries.

Judiciary

The party proposes a simplification and update of laws in form and content, and reduction of the use of wiretapping, that should be limited to serious crimes and threats to the state's security.

Education

The main point of difference with other parties is the support for state funding of private schools and universities, in order to provide equal conditions.

Social responsibility

The party declares its principle to be "helping people help themselves". It is in favour of using money to help the families of the ill, instead of financing public institutions for education of the young and care for the sick or elderly.

Transport

The Progress Party has often been considered "the motorist's party". They are for increased spending in road building and maintenance, and are against the commonplace system of financing public roads with tolls.

Bank of Norway

An increased degree of independence for the Bank of Norway is advocated.

Outsourcing

The party supports outsourcing of some public services.

Issues

Norwegian Petroleum Development

In the mid 70's Frp wanted to sell all the oil and gas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf to Phillips for approximately 10B NOK.

2003 Iraq invasion

As the only Norwegian party, FrP supported the U.S led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Criticism

Critics claim that the differences between the Progress party and other parties can be stark in many areas, and that of all Norwegian parties the Progress party is likely the one that inspires the most opinionated comments, in one way or another. Some scholars classified the Party in the 1990s as an "extreme right" political movement.

Populist

Frp are sometimes connected to right-wing populism in Europe, because they are skeptical towards immigration and have the same perspective on means to combat crime. In 2002 Frp chairman Hagen invited Jörg Haider to Norway. Frp are also skeptical towards government control and work for reduction of taxes and charges, although frequently attacking services of the social welfare for being of inadequate quality. Frp hold that social welfare and other goods should be funded less by taxes and more by the Norwegian petroleum fund - in general, more of the Norwegian petroleum fund should be spent and/or invested in Norway today instead of being invested in foreign stocks. Economic theory predicts, however, that this will lead to an increase in inflation and interest rates. For this reason, the Norwegian Parliament has limited the amount of money from the Petroleum Fund to be spent domestically. Frp, however, refutes that spending more petroleum money in Norway will cause a significant rise in inflation or interest rates. Frp's eagerness to use more of this money domestically gives a solution where other parties have to choose between funding one good or the other: FrP claims petroleum money may fund both, thus avoiding to make any unpopular priority.

Some of the opponents claim that Frp chairman Carl I. Hagen often changed the party's political views towards the popular opinion, and that it has helped increase Frp's electoral support. The decision not to have a position about Norway's membership in the European Union, an important issue in Norwegian politics, was criticised especially from this point of view. However, research has shown that FrP does not stand out as a particularly inconsistent party. On the contrary it has distinguished itself as consistent in its voting pattern over the years.

Immigration

The immigration policy of the Progress party has for a long time been a matter of heated discussion. On one end, critics accuse the party of xenophobia, whereas supporters argue their positions are based on facts, such as overrepresentation of non-European immigrants in a few of the crime statistics. The party has also been a harsh critic of muslim leaders and celebrity muslims in Norway for not raising their voices and/or disapprove crimes committed by immigrants.

The 2005 Brochure on Immigration

During the 2005 electoral campaign, the Progress Party printed a brochure focusing on criminal activities committed by immigrants. The text on the brochure reads «The assailant is of foreign origin!». The smaller text under the headline is «headline we often read». Heavy criticism followed, centered on the allegation that such an advertisement criminalized immigrants as a group.

The Progress Party protested that the critics were mutilating their message. The header on the next page of the on-line version of the brochure read: "«Those most eager to get rid of criminal immigrants are us honest immigrants!» (Pakistani born immigrant in Norway)".

The Progress Party maintains that it has nothing against law-abiding immigrants who are in Norway on legal premises, and they reject discrimination based on colour, race, cultural, ethnic or religious affiliation.

War on Terror

Although the war on terror is not an issue the Progress Party promotes a lot, they have a clear position in support of the United States. Party chairman Carl I Hagen sometimes goes far in claiming that there is a link between islamist fundamentalism and terror. This position receives particularly broad support among conservative Christian communities.

On July 13, 2004 Carl I Hagen held a speech in one such community, the Living Word Bible Center in Bergen. He was quoted saying: "We Christians are deeply concerned with children. Jesus said, let the small children come to me. I can't imagine that Muhammed could have said the same thing. If he had, it would have been Let the small children come to me, so I can exploit them in my struggle to Islamify the world". Supporters of Hagen reject that, and claim that the particular quote was cited out of context. Critics reply back that that the complete speech contained various implications of Christianity being morally superior to Islam, although a quote from the same speech mentions clearly that "It is the islamists im talking about, not moderate muslims, and that it was many really good people that was muslims, like many where he was now holding a speech, was christian.

Carl I Hagen once said in an interview that "Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim". Upon question of why he did not consider terrorism in the Basque country and Northern Ireland, he replied that these were "national conflicts, and nothing to do with this ".

Isolation

Since its foundation, other parties have consistently refused the Progress Party to formally join any governing coalition at state level, despite the Progress Party having broad popular support.

However, in the wake of the 2005 elections that saw an increase in support for the Frp, the Conservatives stated they wanted to be "a bridge between Frp and the centre".

See also

• Politics of Norway
• Fremskrittspartiets Ungdom, the youth of the Progress Party

References

1. Matland, Richard E. (1993). "Institutional Variables Affecting Female Representation in National Legislatures: The Case of Norway". The Journal of Politics. 55: 737–755. doi:10.2307/2131998. Retrieved 2006-10-15. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |quotes= ignored (help)
2. Bjorklund, Tor; Andersen, Jorgen Goul (March, 1999). "Anti-Immigration Parites in Denmark and Norway: The Progress Parties and the Danish People's Party" (PDF). Arbejdspapirer fra Institut for Okonomi, Politik og Forvaltning, Aalborg Universitet. Retrieved 2006-10-15. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
3. Andersen, C.J. (1996). "Economics, Politics, and Foreigners: Populist Party Support in Denmark and Norway". Electoral Studies. 15 (4): 497–511. doi:10.1016/S0261-3794(96)00030-3. Retrieved 2006-10-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |quotes= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
4. "The New Politics of Resentment: Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe". Comparative Politics. 25 (4): 413–427. 1993. doi:10.2307/422034. Retrieved 2006-10-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |quotes= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
5. Hans-George, Betz (1994). Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe. New York, New York: St. Martin's Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
6. "Antisemitism and Racism: Norway". Stephen Roth Institute, Tel Aviv University. 1999. Retrieved 2006-10-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
7. Anders Lange's speech at Saga Kino, 8 April, 1973
8. Predestined parties? organizational change in Norwegian political parties, by Knut Heidar and Jo Saglie. The Causes and Consequences of Organisational Innovation in European Political Parties at the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, Grenoble, April 11, 2001.
9. The Norwegian Progress Party: Building Bridges across Old Cleavages by Tor Bjørklund and Jo Saglie, Norwegian Institute for Social Reseach, PDF file.
10. Jensen likely to take over Progress Party, from Aftenposten, October 6 2003.
11. Piero Ignazi, “The Extreme Right in Europe” pp. 47-64 in Peter H. Merkl and Leonard Weinberg, The Revival of Right-Wing Extremism in the Nineties (London: Frank Cass, 1997).
12. Descriptive article on the Progress Party by Aslak Bonde, political journalist of Aftenposten.
13. Carl I. Hagen's speech at Levende Ord.
14. Hagen: all terrorists are muslim, from Aftenposten, August 26, 2005.
15. Struggling Conservatives re-elect same leadership
16. Struggling Conservatives re-elect same leadership

External links

• Template:No icon Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party) - official site
• The Principles of Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party), the political manifesto of PP.
• History of Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party) 1973-2006
• Template:No icon Fremskrittspartiets ungdom (Youth party) - official site

• Political parties in Norway