As delivered (transcribed from audio recording)

Thank you so much – and thank you Ursula (von der Leyen) for being here.

I went directly to these Nordic meetings after I was elected Prime Minister in 2021. And now, having been reelected and thinking back of those four years – how much the Nordics and the Europeans are integrated, and how many of the challenges we have to face together – this really strikes me, now at this juncture.

So, on competitiveness, for Norway, obviously, it is the EEA agreement, which makes us an integral part of the Internal market. And by that, we are participating in a lot of the very critical issues we are now doing – on defense integration, military integration of our industries, programs to develop the necessities to take care of our security. That is absolutely key – the new common initiatives.

And on security, a few months after I came into office, we had the full-scale invasion, and Ukraine has served as a wake-up call to what is the security landscape in Europe now. It is a strength for all of us that we can approach this as a common Nordic family and a common European family. So, supporting Ukraine, doing it in the smart way; I think we, the Nordic countries, probably have the most experience in that, because we are doing known things, and we are also innovating in the way we do our support to Ukraine. And I know that that is also being reflected in the broader European approach.

A final remark: We've also had among the Nordic prime ministers today a discussion on the need to coordinate our work against organized crime – against gangs, against drug trafficking – that is really feeding organized crime in modern Europe. I'm very happy to see that among the Nordic countries we have police intelligence working closely together. – That is important and we have to deepen that.

And also – on the theme of protecting our youth. We discussed at the meeting with the president (of the EU Commission); some of us are now putting proposals out for an age limit to access social media, which is also an important part of looking after – of what I would say – our daily life security of our youth; improving their school results, improving their mental health. There is no way around addressing this issue. And by doing it together in this family, we also stand stronger.

Thank you.