Anette Trettebergstuen

Trettebergstuen was born in Hamar. On the local level she was a member of Hamar municipal council from 1999 to 2005. She was the deputy leader of Europeisk Ungdom, the Norwegian youth wing of the European Movement, from 2001 to 2002.

She was elected to the Storting in 2005, representing Hedmark. She has also served as the party's spokesperson for cultural affairs.[2]

In the Storting, Trettebergstuen was a member of the Enlarged Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence and the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence from 2005 to 2009. Being re-elected to the Storting for the periods 2009–2013, 2013–2017, 2017–2021 and 2021–2025, she was member of the Standing Committee on Labour and Social Affairs from 2009 to 2015, and the Standing Committee on Family and Cultural Affairs from 2015 to 2021. While being part of the Støre's Cabinet from 2021, Even Eriksen met in the Storting in her place.[3]

Following the 2021 election, she was mentioned as a favorite candidate to become minister of culture.[4]

She was appointed minister of culture and equality on 14 October 2021 in Støre's Cabinet.[5]

She attended the Norwegian film premiere for The Worst Person in the World the day after her appointment.[6]

Trettebergstuen attended a congress meeting by the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, where she held a speech and made several statements of promises to the sport industry, notably to take action of the backlog of sporting facilities, give full VAT compensation, she would be available to listen and learn among other things. Trettebergstuen also warned that the risk of closure due to COVID-19 was something she hoped would not happen, and added that the danger was over yet.[7]

Trettebergstuen called Dagbladet’s revelations of eating disorder struggles within the cross-country skiing sport shocking and unacceptable. She advised that she would be talking to the sports president about the matter, and discuss how the issue could be dealt with and set more focus on it. She notably said: “When body and body weight are seen in the context of performance, there is a fine line between when it comes from being healthy to getting sick.”[8]

In early November, while in Copenhagen for the Nordic Council, she called for a united Nordic front against international tech giants, such as Google and Facebook. She notably cited that tech giants removed what they didn’t like and doesn’t pay taxes, further adding that they also challenged the free press. She also motioned to do like France, who taxes tech giants through OECD. Trettebergstuen also said that Petter Stordalen’s proposal of a Nordic tax regime was not the way to go when it came to other solutions.[9]

On 16 November, Trettebergstuen announced that she would look into the possibility of adding a third gender to identification and similar papers in a law proposal. She promised that the work on the proposal would start as quickly as possible, but was uncertain of how long it would take.[10]

On 27 November, Trettebergstuen stated that no representatives of the Norwegian state or government would attend the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. She also said that she would decline an invitation if she was given one. She noted the recent arrest of two NRK journalists as one of the reasons, and cited that the government would be heavily involved in said case. She also expressed disappointment over FIFA’s reaction to the arrest of the two journalists.[11]

On 14 December, Trettebergstuen attended a press conference alongside Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, Jan Christian Vestre and Hadia Tajik to present the government’s economic COVID-19 measures. Regarding her field of responsibility, Trettebergstuen that an extra 1,1 billion NOK would be given to the cultural sector as a part of the government’s compensation scheme.[12]

Trettebergstuen expressed her disappointment when it was announced that 12 medieval documents from the era of Norway’s union with Denmark would not be handed over to Norway to be put on temporary display at the National Library of Norway. She said: “There are exciting plans the National Library has for the dissemination of medieval history, and it is regrettable if the ambitions have to be reduced because the Danish team does not give access to important historical objects”. She went on to say: “We must be able to facilitate communication through the relevant institutions across national borders, regardless of who formally "owns" the various objects”.[13]

On 13 January 2022, the government announced a lift of a few COVID-19 measures, which also included a few changes. Trettebergstuen announced that the number of people that can participate at events or gatherings would be put to 200. This included without fixed allotted seats, and at outdoor events in addition to 200 people, with fixed allotted seats, at indoor events. She stated: “In addition, we are now working on solutions to better adapt the number restrictions to the size of the premises. The goal is that we can let in more people at concert arenas, or in sports halls”.[14]

Following dissatisfaction from the culture sector about the new restrictions, Trettebergstuen expressed hopes to increase number of event participants. Despite the new restrictions being meant to last four weeks, she expressed hope to change the number of participants before that time is up.[15]

Trettebergstuen was critical to revelations that the Solberg government had agreed and signed a deal on the behalf of the Norwegian sports industry to train Chinese skiers in preparation for the 2022 Olympic Games. She stated: “We would not use the sport in such a thing in a political game. It was at least the case that an agreement was entered into against the will of the sport, then I would say that it is very reminiscent of a political game”.[16]

Trettebergstuen was accused to utilise vacated arguments to get rid of X-Games Norway by its leader Henning Andersen. This criticism stemmed from the postponement of the event prior to the COVID-19 pandemic when it had been promised 15 million Norwegian kroner. Andersen went on to accuse the Støre government of downplaying X-Games because it’s privately run, in favour of the organised sports. In an email in response to Verdens Gang, Trettebergstuen stated: “ I dissociate myself from these accusations. The only reason that X-Games is now not promised support in the future is that they have been recipients of state support for many years, and we want to be able to prioritize others. 15 million NOK is a lot of money, and no one is guaranteed support year after year. On the contrary, of course, I have nothing against the X-Games or this sport”.[17]

On 17 March, she congratulated Vibeke Fürst Haugen, who had been nominated as the new Director-General of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Her nomination came after the incumbent, Thor Gjermund Eriksen, had announced he would step down over the course of the year.[18]

Marking the 50th anniversary of anti-homosexual legislation was abolished, the government issued an apology to queer people. Trettebergstuen stated: “This apology is important, not only to highlight the injustice that has been committed, but also for all the struggles that still remain. Our goal is to improve the living conditions and mental health of queer people. We will review and strengthen the offer to people with gender incongruence. In addition, we will ban conversion therapy, which undoubtedly has major detrimental effects on those who are exposed to it”.[19]

On 24 April, Trettebergstuen announced the establishment of yet another commission for male issues to look into the rising trends of suicide, upper secondary drop outs and lack of appliances for higher education. She stated: “In the public debate, it is often presented as if gender equality policy is women's struggle against men, but in many areas of society, men also have gender equality challenges. This government is concerned with speeding up gender equality policy in general - and is concerned with raising the areas where men have challenges“. Said commission was also promised in the Hurdal platform, which stated the government would look into “men’s equality challenges”.[20]