Prime Minister Støre, your country shares a border with Russia. You're a member of NATO. How has the
war in Ukraine changed thinking in Norway? Well, I would say fundamentally,
like in other European countries and especially bordering countries, that we wake up and learn
that a neighbour has attacked another neighbour massively. And as we have seen since February,
basically aiming at destroying buildings, workplaces, infrastructure, driving,
millions of people escaping. It is a fundamental change to the whole European landscape.
So, yes, it is. It is crucial. Our neighbours, Sweden and Finland, who have been outside NATO,
decided quickly that they wanted to be in Nato. We don't have a perceived direct threat at our border
like what we have seen in Ukraine, but of course we are taking measures to safeguard our security.
You said in the past that Russia and Norway have been at peace for more than 1000 years.
Do you think there is a direct threat to Norwegian territory or perhaps to Norwegian
infrastructure coming from Russia? After what Russia has demonstrated
in Ukraine nobody can can can hide away that question, you know, deny it. Again,
you know, Russia has moved both people and military equipment from the north to Ukraine.
So we observe that and we don't observe direct attention at our border. But of course,
we follow developments in our near abroad. We sail our navy. We fly our patrol planes to monitor the
situation. And we do that very closely with our Nordic partners, but also with our NATO partners.
So when we now put a major emphasis on securing our infrastructure, we do that as Norway and
we do that in close cooperation with our allies and partners, and first among them with Germany.
You're here in Berlin for a security conference and for talks with the German
government. Let's talk about NATO's stance. Is it the right one? Providing technical support,
but waiting essentially for Ukraine to win the war on its own? That might
take a very long time. Is it the right approach? Well, you know, this is not a war against NATO's
territory, but close to negative territory. And Ukraine is a free, democratic nation that deserves
support. And I think both Norway and Germany made a very historic decision back in February to offer
military equipment to a country at war. And we have done so in Norway. We have not done that
since the 1950s. And, you know, we now provide military equipment. It is Ukraine's right to
defend itself and it is our right to help Ukraine defend itself. But but, again, I think, you know,
it will it will be irresponsible to kind of pull NATO into this conflict as it stands,
but to support Ukraine and to do everything we can, that this war should stop and it should
stop by stopping Russian aggression. Ukraine has the right to defend itself.
What should be the consequences for Russia from its aggression? Should it be more isolated,
do you think, in the future? And should indeed Ukraine be brought more closely into,
if you like, the Western alliance? Well, Ukraine has its European track
towards membership of the European Union, which is, of course, a pretty long exercise.
But I think that's a good, good sign. Russia is hit by major economic sanctions, which I,
I know they must have expected. It was made very clear from from countries around that if you
revert to open war against a neighboring country, this will have consequences. So Norway has been
supporting all of those packages from the European Union, you know, aligning ourselves with them.
Then we have to lift our perspective and look ahead. You know, there will be a day after this
conflict and Russia will not go away. And we have to think about the European security structure
where countries can live side by side and having a political toolbox where if there are problems,
we deal with them politically and not by war. But right now, it's about helping Ukraine to survive.
As a result of the war or after the closure of the Nord Stream one pipeline. Norway's now the largest
exporter of gas to Germany and to Western Europe. We've seen those explosions on the gas pipelines
in the Baltic. Are you worried about those direct threats to that energy infrastructure?
Well, it would be naive to say that it has no meaning, you know. Of course, it
is an extraordinary sign that obviously this has been sabotage against the Nord Stream pipeline,
although they were not operating with gas. So Norway has high security around
our infrastructure. We've had that for many, many years. We have increased that
security since February. So we have close cooperation between police and defense. We
have an increased surveillance along the whole system. We have three major land installations.
We have 90 platforms out there on the shelf and we have about 9000 kilometres of pipelines. But I can
assure you we look after them pretty closely and we do that also now with our allies. So alongside,
for example, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, we sail more actively together. And
the chancellor and I, we we have agreed that, you know, this issue about safeguarding infrastructure
is also a NATO issue. So we will propose to our NATO allies that this is something we should
look into to coordinate our efforts because critical infrastructure is key to security.
High energy prices have boosted the profits for sales of Norwegian oil and gas,
and there have been calls from countries like Germany for lower prices, or something to be
done about it. Is that a fair request? I think is very fair request to hope for
lower prices of energy. And I can tell you it is not in Norway's interest that you have high
and volatile energy prices in Europe. I'll give you three examples for that. High gas
prices in Europe means very high electricity prices in Norway. And in families in Norway,
they heat their houses with electricity. So that's a direct negative sign. Secondly, Europe's
industry is Norway's partner. You know, we have to work with them. So a problem for European industry
is a problem for our industry. And thirdly, these energy prices creates social unrest,
which is not good for us as partners and NATO allies. So we will do everything we can to
support measures to stabilize markets and bring prices down. But the reasons why prices are high
is that there is a shortage of energy because Russian gas is no longer there. So we have done
everything we can to increase our sales of gas. We've increased them by almost 10% to the maximum.
But then we have to move on with Europe to produce more energy. And they will
have to come from renewable sources, from offshore wind, from solar, from land wind
and from hydrogen. And all these issues are on the agenda when we now meet with Germany.
The Norwegian government still selling licenses for more oil and gas exploration
in the North Sea. You're promoting that. Is that compatible with the goal of reducing
CO two emissions and reducing emissions - getting away from fossil fuels in future?
We must get away from fossil fuels and we have targets of cutting emissions from our
shelf by 50% by 2030. We have to go into carbon capture and storage if
we're going to reach our climate objectives worldwide. We have to move forward on that.
Norway is looking after potential gas plants in the North Sea, close to our existing installation,
close to where there is activity. But we are moving into a future where that production will
go down and in parallel we will have increase of offshore wind production, floating offshore wind
production, which is a technologically very advanced operation. So gradually you will see
that we are going through this change together and we will be producing renewable energy for Norway
and for contributing contributing to Europe. Final question: you are here in Berlin for the
Berlin Security Conference. What can these kind of gatherings achieve? Is even more
coordination and cooperation between the Western partners needed at this time?
Yes. And I mean, I think one vision that President Putin may have had was that the Western cohesion
would fall apart. It has not happened, although, you know, there is pain coming from the economic
consequences. The biggest pain in the Ukraine, of course. I mean, it's extraordinary what they
are now having to take. But for all of us, it's demanding times, but the cohesion is
very strong. So this these conferences, I think, are important to compare notes,
to sit down and and look into what we can do together. We have to continue to support Ukraine.
In the budget that I presented for 2023, I am announcing that Norway early next year
will announce a major multi-year package for Ukraine where we will take some of the
benefits we've had from energy exports and look at where is the source of this. It comes from what
happened in Ukraine. And we will also be stepping up our aid to the countries beyond Europe that
are now suffering from high food prices, high energy prices. And for all of this to work,
we have to coordinate ourselves. We cannot be kind of 50 different initiatives. And for Norway,
coordinating with Germany is a key part of that strategy.
Prime Minister, thank you very much. Thank you.