Norway's government and business leaders are in a race against time to prepare the nation for potential war and major crises. A stark warning from industry chiefs that the country is "definitively not well enough prepared" has forced Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to convene an unprecedented emergency meeting with the nation's top labor organizations.
For the first time, the government's traditional Contact Committee—normally focused on wage negotiations—met exclusively on Friday to discuss national preparedness. The meeting at the Prime Minister's Office (SMK) signals a profound shift in Oslo's security priorities, moving crisis planning from bureaucratic backrooms to the center of political and economic planning.
"For people working in industry, business, and across our entire working life, this body is of great significance," Støre said after leading the discussions.
The urgent gathering follows months of mounting criticism from Norway's powerful employer organizations. Both the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) and Virke, representing the trade and service sector, have warned that coordination between authorities and private industry remains dangerously inadequate.
A System Under Strain
Administrative Director of Virke, Bernt G. Apeland, has been demanding this meeting since last spring. Following Støre's presentation of Norway's first national security strategy, Apeland criticized what he called "a hole" in the government's planning. "The business sector was almost excluded," he argued at the time.
His concerns gained concrete validation last autumn when a clay landslide severed the E6 highway near Levanger, effectively cutting Norway in two. The incident exposed critical vulnerabilities in supply chain resilience and crisis response coordination between public authorities and private companies responsible for keeping goods moving.
"We have little time," Apeland stated bluntly ahead of Friday's meeting, emphasizing that during crises, people need food, medicine, and other essential goods and services. The organization of preparedness work, he maintains, is simply not good enough.
New Laws, New Obligations
The backdrop to this emergency discussion includes significant legislative changes passed this summer. Amendments to the Civil Protection Act now grant the state authority to assign workers new tasks during crises and war, a power that deeply intrudes on employers' management rights.
This legal shift represents one of the most substantial expansions of state emergency powers in recent Norwegian history. It creates a framework for commandeering private sector resources and personnel—from transport logistics experts to energy technicians—for national defense purposes.
Støre has reinforced this new reality in recent months, most notably in his New Year's address where he stated plainly that Norway must prepare for war. This marks a dramatic change in public rhetoric from a prime minister leading a traditionally peace-oriented Labor Party.
The Civilian Frontline
Norway's security strategy now explicitly recognizes that national defense depends on civilian wheels continuing to turn. The country's vast geography, stretched infrastructure, and reliance on complex supply chains make business continuity planning a security imperative.
NHO, representing over 30,000 member companies accounting for approximately 600,000 full-time equivalents, brings particular concerns from Norway's industrial and offshore sectors. The organization's members operate critical infrastructure including ports, power networks, and communications systems that would be essential during any major disruption.
Virke's 25,000 businesses, with over 300,000 employees, represent the commercial networks that stock shelves, supply pharmacies, and maintain digital services. Their warning carries particular weight because they form the distribution backbone that would sustain the population during prolonged emergencies.
From Theory to Practice
The fundamental challenge lies in translating high-level strategy into practical, coordinated plans. While the national security strategy acknowledges threats, industry leaders argue implementation mechanisms remain underdeveloped.
Key questions unanswered include how the state would prioritize access to limited fuel supplies during a crisis, which industries would receive power grid exemptions during blackouts, and how communication protocols would function between military authorities and civilian supply chain managers.
Norway's experience with the COVID-19 pandemic revealed both strengths and weaknesses in public-private coordination. While the country managed the health crisis relatively well, disruptions to global supply chains highlighted dependencies on international production for everything from medical equipment to electronic components.
The Arctic Dimension
Norway's strategic position adds layers of complexity to its preparedness challenge. As a NATO member sharing a border with Russia in the Arctic, the country must consider scenarios ranging from hybrid threats targeting undersea cables to potential disruptions of northern sea routes.
The energy sector presents particular dilemmas. Norway is Europe's largest supplier of natural gas following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, making its offshore installations and pipeline networks potential targets. Simultaneously, the country depends on functioning energy markets and transport corridors to import refined petroleum products for its own military and civilian needs.
This interdependence creates vulnerability. A crisis that disrupts Norway's ability to export gas would have devastating economic consequences, while any disruption to imports could hamper domestic crisis response capabilities.
Building Resilient Networks
Effective preparedness requires more than government directives—it demands trusted relationships and clear communication channels established before emergencies occur. Friday's meeting aimed to build those foundations.
The Contact Committee traditionally serves as a fixed political cooperation body where the government meets main labor organizations to discuss wage settlements and economic conditions ahead of income negotiations. Its repurposing for security discussions symbolizes how national preparedness now cuts across traditional policy domains.
Successful models might draw from Norway's existing tripartite cooperation traditions, where government, employers, and labor unions collaborate on economic policy. Adapting this framework to security planning could help balance state authority with practical business knowledge.
The Road Ahead
The Levanger landslide served as a wake-up call, demonstrating how a single point of failure can disrupt national infrastructure. Preparing for deliberate attacks or multi-faceted crises requires far more sophisticated planning.
Next steps likely include establishing clearer division of responsibilities, creating secure communication systems between government agencies and critical businesses, and developing contingency plans for various threat scenarios. Regular exercises involving both public and private sector participants will be essential to test these plans under pressure.
Industry organizations will probably push for greater clarity on compensation mechanisms if the state requisitions private resources, as well as legal protections for companies and workers operating under emergency conditions.
A Cultural Shift
Beyond structural changes, Norway faces a cultural preparedness challenge. Decades of peace and stability have created expectations of continuous availability and just-in-time delivery. Building resilience requires accepting that some redundancy and capacity buffers are necessary investments in security.
This shift has economic implications. Stockpiling essential goods, maintaining backup systems, and training personnel for emergency roles all carry costs that businesses may resist without government partnership.
Støre's leadership in convening this meeting suggests recognition at the highest levels that Norway's security model must evolve. The question remains whether this new sense of urgency can translate into concrete systems capable of withstanding the complex crises of the 21st century.
As Norway balances its role as a stable energy supplier to Europe with the need to secure its own population, the cooperation tested in Friday's meeting may become the country's most important national security asset. The alternative—a fragmented response when crisis strikes—could prove catastrophic for a nation whose prosperity and safety depend on things working as they should, even when everything around them is falling apart.