Nikolai Astrup (politician)

Nikolai Eivindssøn Astrup (born 12 June 1978) is a Norwegian politician representing the Conservative Party (Høyre) for Oslo. He has served as Minister of Local Government since 2020.[1] Previously he served as the Minister of International Development from 2018-2019 in Prime Minister Erna Solberg's cabinet, being the first since Heikki Holmås from 2012-2013. In 2019, he also became the first Minister of Digitalization after the Christian Democratic Party joined the Cabinet, a post he served in until 2020.

Nikolai Astrup

MP
Minister of Local Government
Assumed office
24 January 2020
Prime MinisterErna Solberg
Preceded byMonica Mæland
Minister of Digitalization
In office
22 January 2019 – 24 January 2020
Prime MinisterErna Solberg
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byLinda Hofstad Helleland
Minister of International Development
In office
17 January 2018 – 22 January 2019
Prime MinisterErna Solberg
Preceded byHeikki Holmås
Succeeded byDag Inge Ulstein
Member of the Norwegian Parliament
Assumed office
1 October 2009
ConstituencyOslo
Leader of the Oslo Conservatives
In office
28 January 2012 – 27 January 2018
Preceded byMichael Tetzschner
Succeeded byHeidi Nordby Lunde
Personal details
Born
Nikolai Eivindssøn Astrup

(1978-06-12) 12 June 1978
Oslo, Norway
NationalityNorwegian
Political partyConservative
Children3
Alma materLondon School of Economics

Education

Astrup graduated from Institut Le Rosey with an International General Certificate of Secondary Education (1995) and from Berg Upper Secondary School with an International Baccalaureate (1997). He holds a master's degree in European Politics and Governance and a bachelor's degree in International Relations, both from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Early career

Astrup worked in management consulting at Arkwright from 2000 until 2002. Between 2001 and 2008 he was the editor of the conservative periodical Minerva.[2]

Prior to his election to parliament, Astrup worked as political adviser for the Conservative Party parliamentary group and political adviser to the Governing Mayor of Oslo Erling Lae from 2008 until 2009.

Political career

Ahead of the 2009 election for parliament, Astrup was nominated as the Conservative Party's fourth candidate for Oslo, considered the last safe seat; he defeated Inge Lønning in the nomination. Astrup was elected Member of Parliament in 2009 and leader of the Conservative Party in Oslo in 2012 and has previously been leader of the Oslo Norwegian Young Conservatives.

Ahead of the election in 2013 Astrup was nominated as the second candidate for Oslo, behind the Minister of Defence, Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide. Due to his relatively young age, he was considered a rising star in the party at the time.[3] After the elections, Astrup was appointed as vice-chair of the Conservative Party Parliamentary Group, and he was re-appointed to this position after the 2017 election.

In parliament, Astrup sat on the Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment from 2009-2015, and from 2016-2017 he chaired the Standing Committee on Transport and Communication. After the election in 2017 he was appointed chair of the Standing Committee on Finance and is the Conservative's spokesperson on issues relating to these issues.[2] For a number of years Astrup was also spokesperson on European affairs.

In his capacity as minister, Astrup was appointed by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres in 2018 to the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, co-chaired by Melinda Gates and Jack Ma.[4]

Other activities

International organizations

Corporate boards
  • Pactum AS, Member of the Board (2010-2015)

Non-profit organizations
  • European Movement in Norway, Vice-President (2012-2013)

Recognition

In March 2011, Astrup was named the "European of the Year" by the JEF Norway.[8]

Personal life

In 2017, his estimated net worth was $40 million, making him the wealthiest member of Parliament.[9]

gollark: Queue position arbitrage seems like a cool idea, actually.
gollark: I have a mostly underutilized VPS running random routing tasks and monitoring for this sort of thing.
gollark: Excellent, guess I'll consider using that.
gollark: I was looking at it, but since I think the backend is closed source I currently just operate a somewhat accursed Wireguard network with routing.
gollark: I feel mostly safe due to having been (partly, at least) vaccinated and being young enough to not be at significant risk anyway.

References
  1. "The New Cabinet Presented at the Palace". Romerikes Blad. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  2. "Nikolai Astrup" (in Norwegian). Høyre. December 23, 2009. Archived from the original on 17 December 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  3. Viseth, Ellen Synnøve; Karen R. Tjernshaugen (23 February 2009). "Ung Høyre-stjerne danket ut Lønning" (in Norwegian). Dagsavisen. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  4. Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation United Nations, press release of July 12, 2018.
  5. Board of Governors Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
  6. Board of Governors Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank Group.
  7. Board of Governors World Bank.
  8. Norwegian News Agency (14 March 2011). "Mener Nikolai Astrup er årets europeer". Kommunal Rapport (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  9. "– Når ordningen er der kan man ikke klandre folk for at de benytter seg av den". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-02-22.
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