A dignified and worthy memorial ceremony marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on the site of the former Theresienstadt concentration camp. The President of the Storting was there at the ceremony.

The President of the Storting has, on behalf of the Storting, sent his condolences to the President of the Senate of France, Gérard Larcher, and the President of the National Assembly of France, Claude Bartolone.

On Sunday January 11 a ceremony of solidarity was held in Oslo in connection with the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. President of the Storting Olemic Thommessen made an appeal.

On 13 January 2015 Mr Eirik Sivertsen, Head of the Storting’s Delegation for Arctic Parliamentary Cooperation, addressed a conference to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of cooperation between the MGIMO University in Moscow and the University of Nordland.
 

On Thursday 11th December, this year’s winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai will visit the Storting.

Speech by Mr Olemic Thommessen, President of the Storting, at the Nobel Banquet on 10th December 2014.

On Monday 1st December, the lights of 19 Christmas trees were switched on in Eidsvolls plass in front of the Storting. The trees have been put there to symbolize Norwegian democracy: one tree for each of the 19 counties – and constituencies – in the country.

Parliamentarians from all over the world gathered this month in Oslo to discuss freedom of religion. The meeting started at the Storting on 7 November, where the initiator Abid Q. Raja, First Vice President Marit Nybakk and Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende contributed.

Pavel Chikov, the Chair of the Russian human rights organization Agora, this year’s Rafto Prize winner, encouraged Norwegian politicians to support civil society in Russia when he met President of the Storting Olemic Thommessen and the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence last week.

President of the Storting Olemic Thommessen was in Stockholm on Wednesday to meet his Nordic colleagues. The occasion was the 66th Session of the Nordic Council, which is taking place in the Riksdag – the Swedish Parliament.

On 4th November 2014, the Storting will mark the fact that it is 200 years since Norway entered into a union with Sweden.

Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, paid an official visit to the Storting on 30th October. The role of Ghana as a driving force for democracy in Africa was one of the topics under discussion.

President of the Storting congratulates Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai on winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Storting offers open guided tours of the bicentenary exhibition: The Momentous Year of 1814 – Four Documents that Shaped Norway. The public is also invited to view the original Constitution of 17 May 1814 for a limited period only.

During his visit to the Storting the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee was due to talk to the President of the Storting. This is the first official state visit Norway has ever received from India.  

The Storting convened and constituted itself for the new session on 1 October. The State Opening of the 159th Storting will take place on 2 October and the Government’s Royal Proposition concerning the Fiscal Budget will be laid before the Storting on Wednesday 8 October.

On Tuesday 30 September, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly voted to declare 22 July as a European Day for Victims of Hate Crime.

The Nordic Region’s relations with Russia, children’s rights and the implementation of the EU’s Sulphur Directive were among the topics discussed by Nordic parliamentarians during their committee meetings in Tampere, Finland, on 22 and 23 September.

The European Conference of Presidents of Parliament ended on Friday with a statement from the President of the Storting, Olemic Thommessen,  where he made it clear that such violations of international law, as we have seen in Ukraine, are unacceptable. 

Huge numbers flocked to see the Storting from the inside on Oslo Culture Night 2014. The concert with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra was a great crowd puller, but visitors were also interested in the Storting Chamber and the chance to see the original Constitution.

President of the Storting Olemic Thommessen and the President of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Anne Brasseur, have backed the proposal to establish 22 July as the European Day for the Victims of Hate Crime.

President of the Storting Olemic Thommessen visited Iceland on 25–28 July in connection with events to mark the Bicentenary of the Constitution.

On Thursday 9 January, Olemic Thommessen, President of the Storting and Chair of the Main Committee of the Bicentenary of the Norwegian Constitution, presented the official programme for the 2014 Bicentenary celebrations.

The Storting has overall responsibility for the celebrations to mark the Bicentenary of the Norwegian Constitution in 2014. The main committee’s official programme was launched in the Storting on Thursday 9 January.