Guro Fjellanger

Guro Fjellanger (born 26 January 1964) is a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. She served as Minister of the Environment in the first cabinet Bondevik, as the first Norwegian government minister with a disability.

Career

Fjellanger was born in Bergen as the daughter of lector Håkon Fjellanger and interior decorator Jorunn Carlsen,^[1] and grew up in Stokmarknes.^[2] She briefly studied to be a goldsmith, but left this career path in favor of politics.^[1] She was hired as a secretary in the Young Liberals, the youth wing of the Liberal Party in 1985, and from 1986 to 1988 she chaired the organization. From 1988 to 1991 she was the deputy leader of the organization Nei til EU, which opposes Norwegian membership in the European Union. She was then secretary-general from 1991 to 1995;^[1] during this period the Norwegian people rejected membership in the 1994 referendum.

In 1994 Fjellanger became a member of the central committee of the Liberal Party. She was hired as the party's information director in 1995, and was selected deputy leader in 1996. That year she also worked briefly as a manager in the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature.^[1] Following the 1997 general election, the first cabinet Bondevik was established, consisting of the Christian Democratic, Centre and Liberal parties. Fjellanger was appointed to serve as Minister of the Environment in this cabinet. She lost this job when the first cabinet Bondevik fell on a vote of confidence in March 2000. In the same year she stepped down as deputy leader of the Liberal Party.^[1]

From 2000 to 2002 Fjellanger was registered as self-employed. From 2003 to 2004 she was the director of the Norwegian Centre Against Ethnic Discrimination, a government agency. She had been a member of the board of the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers from 1996 to 1997, and also the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (2001–2007), Ecolabelling Norway (2004–)^[1] and the Norwegian Consumer Council (2008–2012).^[3] In 2007 she was elected to serve in the city council of Oslo.^[1] She resides in Gamle Oslo.

Disability

Guro Fjellanger was born with spina bifida, a dysfunction of the spinal cord which inhibits normal walking. She learned to walk to a certain degree, she later used a wheelchair exclusively. When hired as Minister of the Environment she became the first Norwegian government minister with a disability.^[2]

In 2007 she notably won a lawsuit against the state, who in 2004 had refused to grant her industrial insurance.^[4]

References

External link

• Official website