Lan Marie Berg Explained

Office:First Deputy Leader of the Green Party
Term Start:26 November 2022
Leader:Arild Hermstad
Predecessor:Arild Hermstad
Office1:Member of the Storting
Term Start1:1 October 2021
Constituency1:Oslo
Office2:Oslo City Commissioner for Transport and the Environment
Term Start2:21 October 2015
Term End2:18 June 2021
1Blankname2:Governing Mayor
1Namedata2:Raymond Johansen
Predecessor2:Guri Melby
Successor2:Sirin Hellvin Stav
Birth Date:4 March 1987
Birth Place:Oslo, Norway
Party:Green Party
Children:1

Lan Marie Nguyen Berg (born 4 March 1987 in Oslo) is a Norwegian politician from the Green Party. She currently serves as an MP for Oslo since 2021 and as one of the party's deputy leaders since 2022. Berg previously served as Oslo City Commissioner for transport and the environment from 2015 to 2021, when she resigned following a confidence vote.

Education

Berg has a master's degree from the Center for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo. Berg wrote her master's thesis on the use of solar power in a Kenyan village.[1]

Career

Berg joined the environmental organisation Spire in 2009, and worked for the Oslo Mela Festival.[2] She was also part of an environmental blog collective called "Grønne jenter" (English: Green Girls), part of a group of ten women who wrote about environmentally conscious fashion, food and lifestyle.[3] [4] Berg was first elected to the Oslo city council in the 2015 Norwegian local elections, after being nominated as the first candidate for the Green Party in Oslo in September 2014.[5]

On 10 October 2022, she was designated first deputy leader of her party, with Arild Hermstad as leader.[6] She was formally elected at the extraordinary congress on 26 November.[7]

Parliament

Berg was elected to the Storting at the 2021 election. There she sat on the Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment from 2021 to 2022, where she also was first vice chair. From 2022, she sat on the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs and the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs from 2023. Also from 2022, she was a member of the Enlarged Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.[8]

In May 2024, she announced that she wouldn't be seeking re-election at the 2025 election.[9]

Oslo City Commissioner

Following the 2015 local elections, she was appointed city commissioner for transport and the environment and deputy governing mayor in Raymond Johansen's cabinet.

In the 2019 Norwegian local elections she was again nominated as the Green Party in Oslo's first candidate. She received the most votes of all candidates in the party.[10]

Berg was on parental leave from 2 January to 3 August 2020, and her duties as city commissioner was covered by the party's deputy leader, Arild Hermestad.[11]

In 2020, the Progress Party and the People's Action No to More Road Tolls party submitted a motion of no-confidence against Berg for violations of the Working Environment Act since 2013 and withholding information from the city council. The motion did not pass.[12] [13]

In February 2021, she announced that she intended to create a zero-emissions zone within the city where petrol and diesel cars would be prohibited.[14]

In May, the Oslo Police announced that they would be investigating a number of threats made against her online after she had made a Facebook post expressing solidarity with Gaza during the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis.[15] [16] [17]

In June, the Oslo City Council passed a motion of no-confidence against her over a controversy concerning the budget of the under construction new water supply for the city. She stayed on in interim capacity until governing mayor Raymond Johansen was given the task to form a new council cabinet. Berg resigned on 18 June and was replaced by Hanna Marcussen in acting capacity. Her permanent successor was Sirin Helvin Stav.[18] [19] She was succeeded by Einar Wilhelmsen as deputy governing mayor.[20]

Personal life

Berg's father, Khanh Thanh Nguyen, moved from Vietnam to Norway as a 13 year old in 1968, after becoming paralyzed after a fall. Her mother, Mari Ann Berg, is a local politician for the Socialist Left Party in Oppegård (now Nordre Follo).[21]

She married fellow party member Eivind Trædal in July 2018.[22] They welcomed their first child, a daughter, in May 2019.[23]

Notes and References

  1. Master of Philosophy . Berg . Lan Marie Nguyen . November 2013 . Sunshine in Ikisaya: exploring a research-introduced social enterprise and its potential to provide basic electricity services and to reduce vulnerability in a Kenyan village.
  2. Web site: Melafestivalen blir minnekonsert: - Mela er det motsatte av det "han" sto for. 2021-08-06. www.vg.no. nb.
  3. Web site: Irritasjonsmomentet. 2021-08-06. www.aftenposten.no. nb.
  4. Web site: Hirsti. Kristine. 2014-04-12. – Kutt i bolig, biff og bil. 2021-08-06. NRK. nb-NO.
  5. Web site: Prestegård. Sofie. Grønn bølge i Oslo. https://web.archive.org/web/20141006152827/http://www.dagsavisen.no/samfunn/gronn-bolge-i-oslo/. 2014-10-06. 2014-08-03. Dagsavisen. no.
  6. Web site: Valgkomiteen vil ha Arild Hermstad som ny MDG-leder . . 10 October 2022 . 20 October 2022 . no.
  7. Web site: Hermstad valgt til MDG-leder med syltynn margin . . 26 November 2022 . 26 November 2022 . no.
  8. Web site: Berg, Lan Marie Nguyen . Stortinget.no . nb .
  9. Web site: Gir seg i politikken . . 2 May 2024 . 2 May 2024 . nb.
  10. Web site: I. NTB. 2019-09-12. Lan Marie Berg fikk klart flest personstemmer i Oslo. 2021-08-06. dagbladet.no. no.
  11. Web site: Hermstad erstatter Lan Marie Berg . Dagbladet . 20 December 2019 . 28 June 2021 . Norwegian.
  12. Web site: Stavrum. Gunnar. 2020-12-09. Politikeren får full tillit etter tusenvis av lovbrudd, den private lederen får fengsel. 2021-08-06. Nettavisen. no.
  13. Web site: NTB. 2020-11-18. Frp og FNB fremmer mistillit mot Lan Marie Berg. 2021-08-06. www.abcnyheter.no. no.
  14. Web site: Oslo's environment vice mayor wants to have a petroleum and diesel ban in Norway's capital as early as next year . Norway Today . 14 February 2021.
  15. Web site: Oslo police: We will investigate threats against Lan Marie Berg . Norway Today . 26 May 2021.
  16. Web site: Lan Marie Nguyen Berg drukner i Facebook-hets etter Gaza-innlegg . VG . 15 May 2021 . Norwegian.
  17. Web site: Norway, we need to talk about racism . Open Democracy . 17 June 2021.
  18. Web site: Oslo city council resigns following no confidence motion against Lan Marie Berg . Norway Today . 16 June 2021.
  19. Web site: NRK. 2021-06-18. Overtar for Lan Marie Berg. 2021-08-06. NRK. nb-NO.
  20. Web site: Fakta om byrådet i Oslo . . 24 June 2021 . 13 September 2023 . no.
  21. Web site: Grønnskollingen . Dagsavisen . 16 October 2016 . nb.
  22. Web site: Lan Marie Nguyen Berg og Eivind Trædal har giftet seg . . 7 July 2018 . 2 May 2024 . nb.
  23. Web site: Lan Marie Nguyen Berg og Eivind Trædal har blitt foreldre . . 2 May 2019 . 2 May 2024 . nb.