OSLO, Norway (AFP) — Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg is being investigated after revelations that she and her family broke the country’s Covid-19 restrictions, police said Friday.
For her 60th birthday, at the end of February, Solberg gathered her family in the ski resort town of Geilo, in breach of restrictions and recommendations on limiting social interactions, public broadcaster NRK revealed on Thursday.
“Against the background of information that has surfaced through the press, together with the prime minister’s own statements, police have decided to initiate an investigation tied to a potential breach of the infectious disease regulation,” police said in a statement.
“The matter will then be evaluated by the prosecution authority in reference to a potential legal sanction,” the statement added.
Solberg already issued a mea culpa on her Facebook page on Thursday evening.
“I am sorry that my family and I have broken the corona regulations, that should never have happened. We of course should have followed all the recommendations, as I have asked you to do,” she wrote in a post.
“I’m especially thinking of all those who have had to cancel things they have looked forward to, a birthday with classmates, a celebration with friends or anything else that is important,” she added.
“I understand those who get angry and disappointed over this. I have made a mistake and for that I want to say I’m sorry.”
In addition to the legal consequences, the affair could have ramifications for the head of government’s political career heading into planned elections in September.
On February 25, 13 members of Solberg’s family dined at a restaurant — in her absence, because she had to go to hospital with eye problems — even though rules limited the number of people attending a private event in a public space to ten.
The next day, Solberg and her relatives violated a another recommendation by having 14 people, four more than the limit, eating sushi in her flat.
The reports immediately sparked a furore on social media, with some calling for her resignation.
“If the PRIME MINISTER, with hordes of advisors, can’t figure out the rules, it’s TOTALLY UNREASONABLE to expect the average person to do so,” one user on Twitter railed.
© Agence France-Presse