Carl Ivar Hagen turns 80 on Monday. Fifty years after he was elected to the Storting for the first time, he is still active in politics.
He celebrates the day by going to work in the Storting. On Sunday, there will be a celebration at home with the family.
The former chairman took over the Progress Party in 1978, when the party had zero representatives in the Storting. He helped build the party, which received only 3.7 percent support in the 1985 election, to become Norway’s second largest party in the 2005 general election, when they received 22.1 percent support. The following year he resigned as party leader.
During his political career, Hagen has not been afraid to challenge established norms. He has been a champion of lower taxes, less government intervention and a stricter immigration policy. These positions have made him an icon in Norwegian politics, and although he has faced opposition, he has also gathered a significant following who share his views.
As leader of the Progress Party, Hagen was instrumental in shaping the party’s identity and political course. He was an important architect behind the party’s transformation from a marginal protest party to a powerful factor in Norwegian politics. Under his leadership, the party achieved significant electoral victories and became a fixture in Norwegian parliamentary life.
Already in 1977, Hagen warned about “Swedish conditions” on television. Since then, the immigration problems in Sweden have grown much larger, and the warnings from Hagen are considered a prophecy that has come true.
Hagen tells ABC Nyheter today that he has decided whether he will run for re-election to the Storting in the 2025 election, but does not want to reveal what he has decided on.
– I will answer that question on Monday.
He also tells the newspaper that FrP should not necessarily seek government power after the election in 2025.
– It very much depends on the negotiations. We learned last time that going into government without getting a proper impact in important areas is not necessarily wise. And then we have seen that SV achieves quite a lot, even though they are in opposition. It will be a difficult assessment for the party leadership whether it makes the most sense for the party to join a possible government or not.
The 80-year-old celebrates the day with the parliamentary group of the Progress Party, which will hold a reception for him in the Eidsvollsgalleriet at the Storting.
Carl I. Hagen predicts a bright future for FrP, and gives his support to FpU leader Simen Velle, who recently came out and talked about a drug conviction he received as a teenager.
– Simen admitted that he did something very stupid in his teens. Many people have done stupid things in their youth. It was very wise for him to come forward, and I don’t think it will weaken him at all. We can’t have politicians be perfect from birth and have never done anything stupid.
– Politics needs people of flesh and blood who have made mistakes, says Hagen to Nettavisen.
Furthermore, he says that he is optimistic on behalf of the party, and points out that there are many bright young people who he believes will ensure a strong FrP in the future as well.
– We have many alternative solutions in many areas. Why the Conservative Party is the largest party on the bourgeois side is incomprehensible. In many areas, the party is just another alternative to the Labor Party, he says to Nettavisen.
