Espen Barth Eide

Eide was appointed as defense minister by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on 11 November 2011. Eide described his new position as “a great responsibility” and said he would not make “revolutionary changes.”[10]

In March 2012, Eide criticized NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussens for saying that he was open to the possibility of using information gained under torture. Eide pronounced this “unacceptable,” saying that it violated international conventions.[11]

Eide expressed concern in April 2012 that Norway's purchase of fighter jets would reduce the amount of funding available for the elderly and transport infrastructure.[12]

In June 2012, Eide made the opening remarks at a seminar in Oslo on “Masculinity and the Military,” saying that Norway was beginning the “final stage of the transformation of the armed forces,” taking “a fundamentally new approach to how we recruit, invest in and maintain a pool of highly qualified personnel.” In addition to “recruiting those who can run long distances and carry a heavy back pack,” he explained, the military would seek to "attract those who are especially skilled in new technologies. Young people who can make an impact on system and strategy thinking. Indeed we need women and men who are inclined to find cyberspace more fascinating than wildlife and hiking.”[13]

On 11 September 2012, Eide delivered a speech marking the end of Norway's involvement in the war in Afghanistan.[14]

Prime Minister Stoltenberg named Eide Minister of Foreign Affairs on 21 September 2012.

Eide gave an extensive interview to Der Spiegel in October 2012 about the responsible exploitation of Arctic resources.[15]

Asked in December 2012 about the EU's growing economic crisis, Eide said, “I believe the answer is more Europe. Less Europe or some kind of disintegration is not just wrong, but it can in fact be quite dangerous.” If countries abandon the EU, he said, it cannot “bring peace in Europe or a visible Europe in the global arena.”[16]

In December 2012, Eide urged the United Kingdom to remain in the EU.[17] The next month, asked whether Britain would be better off in the EEA rather than in the EU, Eide underscored that it would be best for the EU if Britain left its status unchanged: “As a historic and current close ally of Norway, I think we see more advantages in Britain still being a part of the EU in the future, so that British pragmatism on many issues has a seat at the table when important issues are discussed.”[18]

At an Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø in January 2013, Eide signed a Host Country Agreement between Norway and the Arctic Council, establishing a permanent secretariat for the council in that city.[19]

At a joint press conference on 12 March 2013 in Washington, D.C., with newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Eide said that Norway was working “closely with the Syrian opposition,” by providing humanitarian aid and, “trying to help them to set up local council inside Syria.” But Norway, like the U.S., was not yet, “actively arming the rebels,” though it agreed with the U.S. that "President Assad has lost all credibility, he must go. We need to work with the Syrian opposition, we need to help them to unify, we need to help them to consolidate messages, and we need to make sure that the Security Council finally is able to come to a kind of joint position in this issue. And I think on these issues we are very much of the same approach.”[20]

In March 2013, Eide addressed the first-ever governmental conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.[21] “Time is not on our side,” he told the audience. “The technology exists, on more hands, and we know that more states and non-state groups are contemplating acquiring real weapons. On top of this, comes the risk of accidental detonation, for instance due to improper handling of nuclear weapons.”[22]

In April 2013, Eide declared that a new wave of violence in the state of Rakhine in Burma should not be considered identical to earlier conflicts in that country, which resulted from government oppression. He expressed confidence that Burmese authorities were taking the situation seriously and were eager to establish reconciliation and peace.[23]

Eide hailed the “historic agreement” between Serbia and Kosovo in April 2013 which resolved all outstanding questions between the two countries.[24] Meeting with Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade, Eide said that even though Norway is not a member of the EU, it strongly supports Serbia’s EU pathway.[25]