WELCOME TO THE NORWEGIAN CENTRE PARTY

The Centre Party membership stock totals close to 33 000. The party organization consists of a central part with headquarters in Oslo, 19 county organizations and local organizations in most of the Norwegian municipalities. The party has a youth organization - the Centre Youth - and a women's organization - the Centre Party Women.

The ideology of the Norwegian Centre Party relies on three pillars:

- the idea of personal responsibility

- the idea of community and solidarity

- the idea of responible management of land and resources.


Central political issues for the Centre Party are:

- democracy and every persons right to political participation

- protection of the natural resources and environment

- decentralisation of settlement, power and capital

- equal living conditions for everybody

- international solidarity


The Centre Party wants a mixed economy, where privat property and private initiativ coexists with public regulations and service.

The Centre Party was founded in 1920. It originated as a party for the rural population, representing the farmers' interests and defending the rural culture and values against the pressure from the urban elites. When the green dimension grew more important in Norwegian politics in the late sixties/early seventies, the Centre Part tended towards the green pole. The party was central in the campaigns against Norwegian membership in the European Union before the national referendums about this question in 1972 and in 1994. Both times the majority of the voters said no to Norwegian membership in the EU. From 1997 - 2000 the Centre Party took part of the Government, along with the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. We had six cabinet members and 11 members of parliament.