Bjørn Arild Gram

From 1996 to 1998 he chaired the Centre Youth, the youth wing of the Centre Party. On the local level Gram served as the mayor of Steinkjer from 2007 to 2020, having formerly been a member of the county council from 1991 to 2000. He was a member of Nord-Trøndelag county council from 1995 to 2019, and has chaired the county party chapter.[1]

In February 2020, he was appointed the new chair of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, and stepped down as mayor the next month.[3]

He served as a deputy representative to the Storting from Nord-Trøndelag during the terms 1993–1997, 2001–2005, 2005–2009 and 2013–2017. From 2005 to 2007 Gram was a member of Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet as State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. In 2013, as Marit Arnstad from Nord-Trøndelag was a member of the outgoing Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet, Gram met as a regular representative during the two weeks before the cabinet change.[4]

Gram was appointed minister of local government in Jonas Gahr Støre's cabinet on 14 October 2021.[5]

Gram told NRK that he would facilitate so that local democracy can take a position on the future of its county. He further said it would take a decision from the Storting to reverse county mergers. He didn't give an estimate to what reversal of the mergers would cost, but emphasised that the government would have dialog with the counties in question about what would be necessary to go through with the process of reversal.[6]

Following questions from members of the Storting regarding Telenor continuing construction of the 5G network with Huawei equipment in Bergen, Gram answered with a written statement that seemed similar to former Minister of Districts and Digitalisation Linda Hofstad Helleland’s response about the same case a few weeks earlier. Gram later revealed that the similar answers are due to the fact that the authorities' policy is fixed, even after the change of government.[7]

On 29 October, Gram issued a letter where he and the government approved the dissolution of Troms og Finnmark county.[8]

After the government approved for municipalities who were merged by force, to dissolve themselves, Gram expressed that he had faith in local democracy and confidence in the municipalities to listen to there inhabitants in an appropriate way. He further stated that he didn’t want to speculate in local outcomes against forced mergers.[9]

On 13 December, in a Storting question time, Liberal Party representative André N. Skjelstad asked Gram about which tasks would be transferred from the county governor to the county municipality. Gram didn’t ansewer the question directly, but stated that the government would get back to the Storting with a proposal of which tasks should be transferred. He also emphasized that for many years there had been a sneak centralisation of government jobs and this must be taken into account.[10]

In a press release on 19 December, Gram announced that the housing benefits would rise through January to March 2022. He also stressed that people should apply to get the benefits by 31 December, and those who already had it didn’t have to apply again for the given period.[11]

In early January 2022, the government announced that small houses will still be built with chimneys, in effect meaning that they would not go in to remove the requirement for single-family homes to have a chimney in accordance with building regulations. Gram stressed the importance of chimneys, stating: “It is important that people can keep warm if there is a natural disaster or other major event. By keeping the requirement for a chimney, we make it easier for more people to burn firewood”.[12]

Gram stated that he could not promise municipalities who wants to change counties after mergers where reversed the right to do so. He stressed the factors of changes to the county those municipalities would leave and the ones they would be entering, in addition to constituency changes for the Storting. He added that the decision would be left to the Storting.[13]

In April, Gram announced that notable changes to the electoral law would be made, that previously were exclusively made for the 2021 election during the COVID-19 pandemic; could be permanently implemented. Further changes included for early votes to be counted as soon as the first Sunday before Election Day, and for local electrical commissions to establish other voting locations within their respective constituencies. The Ministry plans to follow up on these changes recommended by a commission set down, to propose an amendment to the electoral law to be put forward in early 2023.[14]

After Odd Roger Enoksen resigned in the wake of revelations of multiple inappropriate sexual relations with younger women, Gram was appointed his successor on 12 April 2022. During the minor reshuffle, Sigbjørn Gjelsvik was appointed his successor as minister of local government.[15]

On 20 April, Gram announced that Norway would be donating air defence system missiles to Ukraine, while the missiles were being phased out in the Norwegian Army. He stated: “The missile will be phased out by the Norwegian Armed Forces, but it is still a modern and effective weapon that will be of great benefit to Ukraine. Other countries have also donated similar weapon systems”.[16]