Knut Arild Hareide

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Knut Arild Hareide bigraphy, stories - Norwegian politician

Knut Arild Hareide : biography

23 November 1972 –

Knut Arild Hareide (born 23 November 1972) a Norwegian politician who serves as a member of parliament from Akershus and as the current leader of the Christian Democratic Party. Hareide served as Minister of the Environment from 2004 to 2005 in the second Bondevik cabinet. In 2007 he announced he would step down from the national political scene for the time being, but he returned when he was nominated as the top candidate for the Christian Democratic Party ticket in Akershus in the 2009 election where he won the county’s leveling seat. After Dagfinn Høybråten stepped down as party leader, Hareide was unanimously elected to take his place at the 2011 party convention.

Before his tenure as government minister, Hareide had sat through one term in the municipal council of his native Bømlo, served as a deputy representative to the national parliament as well as working two years as a State Secretary. He was also second deputy leader of his party from 2003 to 2007, having come through the ranks of the party’s youth organization.

Outside of politics, Hareide is an economist by education, and he has worked for the media conglomerate Schibsted.

Education

Hareide was born in Rubbestadneset. He started his higher education in 1992, the same year he graduated from upper secondary school. Enrolled at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), he graduated in 1997 with a siv.øk. degree. During his time at NHH, he also minored in sociology (1995) at the University of Bergen.. Retrieved on 2009-05-02.

Hareide was active in student politics. His involvement included terms as a member of the student parliament at the University of Bergen, as the leader of the Student Union of the Norwegian School of Economics 1994–1995, and as a board member of the national student union 1993–1994. During the period in student politics, Hareide held a Christian democratic middle ground between radical (such as later socialist politician Aslak Sira Myhre) and conservative representatives, an experience he has described as educational.

Personal life

Hareide comes from a middle-class background, his father being a transportation manager and his mother a consultant.

Although reluctant to comment on the issue, Hareide was likely single during his first tenure in national politics. He has been confronted with rumours of homosexuality by segments of the media, but these have been dismissed. In 2008 he was reported as having a relationship with Solveig Engevik from Kolbotn, which ended in 2010. In the spring of 2011 he was confirmed in a relationship with school teacher Lisa Marie Larsen.

The couple married in Moi on 23 June 2012, and had a daughter on 6 April 2013. 

Career

Hareide was active in the Youth of the Christian People’s Party, being a member of the national board 1999–2001 before joining the national board of the Christian Democratic Party. He worked as a political advisor in the Ministry of Church Affairs, Education and Research from 1998 to 2000, during the first cabinet Bondevik. He later became State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance from 2001 to 2003 during the second cabinet Bondevik. In 2003 he became second deputy leader of the Christian Democratic Party nationwide.

He then joined the cabinet during a 2004 reshuffle, serving as the Norwegian Minister of the Environment from summer 2004 to fall 2005. He was the youngest ever cabinet member from the Christian Democratic Party, and the first Christian Democratic to hold the post. The second cabinet Bondevik did not survive the 2005 elections, and as such Hareide had to step down from office that year. His successor was Helen Bjørnøy. Until 2009, Hareide had never been elected to the Norwegian Parliament, but served as a deputy representative during the terms 1997–2001, 2001–2005 and 2005–2009. On the local level of politics he was a member of Bømlo municipality council from 1991 to 1995.

In 2007 Hareide announced that he had left politics for the time being to pursue a career in the national media conglomerate Schibsted, as an organizational director. His career in the company started with the position of trainee in 1997. Outside politics, his only paid full-time appointments have been in Schibsted. He still works behind the scenes for his party, occasionally commenting on issues in the national media.an from November 2007 He did not rule out a return to national politics in the future, and in late 2008 he was selected by his party as the top candidate on the party’s ticket in Akershus county. The Christian Democratic Party formerly held a seat in this county, but lost it in 2005. Hareide has never lived in Akershus. Party leader Dagfinn Høybråten hails from Akershus, but he runs on the Rogaland ticket to secure a safe seat.