Norway's windfall: should it go to Ukraine?

Oil-based wealth fund is intended 'for future generations of Norwegians', but Putin's war poses an existential threat

The Equinor ASA offshore oil drilling platform on Johan Sverdrup oil field in the North Sea off the coast of Norway
Norway's sovereign wealth fund stands at €1.7 trillion
(Image credit: Carina Johansen / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"Are we a nation of money-grubbers and war profiteers?" That's what we must look like to our European neighbours, said Asbjørn Svarstad in Nettavisen (Oslo).

Norway is sitting on a huge war windfall that could solve the continent's problems in an instant. Our sovereign wealth fund is now worth €1.7 trillion – and €109 billion of that came straight from our neighbours' pockets. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin cut off Russian gas supplies, sending energy prices skyrocketing and leaving Norway to lap up the profits as the continent's biggest gas supplier. And given that our European allies are pushing their budgets to the limit to help fund Ukraine's fight for survival, we owe it to them to plough that money back into rearmament. Yet until last week, when, under significant pressure, the government more than doubled its contribution to €7 billion – we were the "Uncle Scrooge" of Europe: shamefully, we've donated less to Ukraine as a share of GDP than our Scandinavian neighbours.

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