Norway’s parliament on Wednesday began public hearings into ties between late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Norwegian diplomats and politicians, as authorities face questions over the impact of those relationships on the country’s foreign service.
The hearings are being held by parliament’s Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs, which has summoned 11 current and former foreign and development ministers to explain their contacts with Epstein and what the government is doing to restore confidence in the foreign service.
Among those due to appear is Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, who served as foreign minister from 2005 to 2012. Stoere has said he had no relationship with Epstein.
Former Foreign Minister Boerge Brende is also scheduled to testify. Brende resigned as president and CEO of the World Economic Forum after revelations about his relationship with Epstein became public.
Brende has said he did not know about Epstein’s criminal history when they first met in 2018 and regretted not investigating him more thoroughly.
Erik Solheim, a former development minister who is also due to testify, has criticised the parliamentary inquiry as an overreaction, arguing that it could encourage diplomats to avoid legitimate relationships and harm Norway’s national interests.
Committee leader Jonas Andersen Sayed said the government needed to explain how it intended to restore trust in the foreign service.
“There are many people who have demonstrated very poor judgement,” Andersen Sayed told Reuters, referring to people who maintained friendships with Epstein.
The parliamentary hearings are part of a broader investigation into Norwegian figures whose relationships with Epstein have come under scrutiny following the release of millions of documents by the U.S. Department of Justice in January.
Former Prime Minister Thorbjoern Jagland, former minister Terje Roed-Larsen and former diplomat Mona Juul are among prominent Norwegians being investigated by police over corruption allegations. All three have denied criminal wrongdoing.
Roed-Larsen has apologised for his close relationship with Epstein, which included a personal loan from the financier. He stepped down as head of the New York-based International Peace Institute in 2020.
Queen Mette-Marit, the wife of King Haakon, has also apologised for her friendship with Epstein but is not appearing before the parliamentary committee.
Alongside the hearings, parliament has appointed an external commission of academics and legal experts to examine issues raised by the Epstein files and assess the integrity and transparency of Norwegian authorities.
The commission will examine more than three decades of Norwegian diplomatic history and is expected to report its findings in early 2028.
The body is only the ninth investigative commission appointed by Norway’s parliament in the past 140 years, underscoring the scale of the scrutiny facing the country’s political and diplomatic establishment.
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