Terje Kalheim

Terje Kalheim (born 21 September 1952) is a Norwegian politician who represents the Labour Party, and works for the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions' international department. He was previously a member of the Socialist Left Party (SV) and was city councillor for culture and urban development in Oslo between 30 September 1992 and 25 October 1995, in the SV-Ap-city council led by Rune Gerhardsen. During his time on the city council, he was responsible for the agreement between Oslo municipality and the Blitz house which lasted until 1994.

He attended Sogn Upper Secondary School from 1968 to 1970. He then worked at Sporveien, where he was also trade union leader. At the end of the 1980s, he was a board member of the Eurosceptic organisation Opplysningsutvalget om Norge og EF. In November 1990, he was elected deputy leader of No to the EU (Norway). On 19 September 1991, Vårt Land (Norwegian newspaper) published an interview with Kalheim that shocked parts of the organisation. He said that it would be difficult for Norway to stay out of the EU if Finland and Sweden joined. He also criticised the Centre Party (Norway) argument: "Nothing is easier that doing what Anne Enger Lahnstein does: Travel around the country and bash the EU's opinions and policies. It wins a lot of votes, but also gives people a naive overview of the EU's politics".^[1] Many local union leaders called for Kalheim to resign as deputy leader, but he also drew support from others, including SV-politicians Raymond Johansen, Paul Chaffey and Berge Furre. Aftenposten described an "ice front" between the deputy leader and the leader Kristen Nygaard.^[2] After Kalheim joined Oslo City Council, he resigned as deputy leader in October 1991.

City councillors Kalheim and Raymond Johansen resigned from SV after the election defeat in 1995 and joined the Labour Party, after the EU-debates had marked them out as pro-EU, and they failed to be renominated for a place on the City Coucil for Oslo SV.

He is the son of union leader and EU critic Ragnar Kalheim, who left the Labour party to join the SV, where he was a senior figure until his death in 1974.

References[edit]

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