Eivinn Berg

Who was Eivinn Berg?

Eivinn Berg was a Norwegian diplomat and politician for the Conservative Party.

He was born in Sandefjord, and took the siv.øk. degree at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. He enrolled there in 1953, and was hired in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1956. From 1963 he served in the Norwegian delegation to GATT and EFTA in Geneva, then as a head of department in the EFTA Secretariat. From 1970 he was an embassy councellor in Brussels, and negotiated the Norwegian membership in the European Economic Community. However, the membership was stopped in a 1972 referendum in Norway, and Berg left the foreign service. He was the director of the Norwegian Shipowners' Association from 1973 to 1978.

He returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as sub-director, and was promoted to deputy under-secretary of state. From 1981 to 1984 he served as a State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a part of Willoch's First Cabinet. From 1984 to 1988 he was the Norwegian ambassador to NATO, and from 1988 to 1996 he was the Norwegian ambassador to the European Union. His time here was spent in negotiations; first from 1989 to 1993 negotiating the European Economic Area and from 1993 to 1994 negotiating a possible EU membership. This too was botched after a 1994 referendum. He also negotiated the conditions for the Schengen Area.