Key Norwegian ministers summoned for parliamentary hearing on Epstein ties, Jagland excluded
A parliamentary hearing will bring together eleven ex- and incumbent foreign and development ministers to address Norway's connections with the Epstein network. Participants include current prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre, current foreign minister Espen Barth Eide and former foreign ministers such as Ine Eriksen Søreide. The committee set the cut-off at 2005, which excludes former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland, who served as foreign minister before that year. The inquiry also examines diplomatic passport handling, security protocols and aid oversight, including support to the International Peace Institute.
The Storting's control and constitutional committee has scheduled a two-day hearing to scrutinise Norway's ties to the Jeffrey Epstein network, calling eleven former and current foreign and development ministers. Among those summoned are current prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre, current foreign minister Espen Barth Eide, and former foreign ministers Anniken Huitfeldt, Ine Eriksen Søreide and Børge Brende, as well as current and former development ministers such as Åsmund Aukrust and Dag-Inge Ulstein.
The committee has drawn a temporal line at 2005, the start of Jens Stoltenberg's second cabinet, which means former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland, who served as foreign minister from 2000 to 2001, will not be invited. Topics include the handling of diplomatic passports, security procedures, contacts with Epstein's network, and oversight of Norwegian aid, notably funding to the International Peace Institute led for years by Terje Rød-Larsen. The hearing runs concurrently with a broader independent commission that will investigate the matter more deeply, with its final report due in 2028.
