menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Norway should cede its war windfall to Ukraine

31 8
04.02.2025

Havard Halland

EDINBURGH/TRONDHEIM – Norway’s government has effectively become a war profiteer, we argued in a commentary in December. It is an opinion shared by a number of European politicians, and by European and Norwegian media. But rather than paying attention, Norway’s government is getting defensive.

The basic facts are not up for debate. After the outbreak of the Ukraine war caused natural gas prices to rise sharply in Europe, Norway reaped windfall profits totaling some €108 billion ($113 billion), according to Norway’s Ministry of Finance. That is more than the value of all military and civilian support Ukraine has received from the United States and Germany combined from when the war started through October 2024. It is roughly one-third of the value of the Russian central-bank assets that are currently frozen in the West (and which Western governments have extensively debated channeling to Ukraine for defense and reconstruction).

But Norway has kept its windfall for itself, providing a measly €3 billion in aid to Ukraine in its 2025 budget, only slightly up from the previous year. This approach is simply wrong: Norway must transfer its recent “super-profits,” excess profits above the normal level, in full, directly to Ukraine. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum seem more interested in justifying their decision not to do so than in helping........

© The Korea Times