Lars Sponheim

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Lars Sponheim (born May 23, 1957 in Halden, Østfold) is a Norwegian politician. He has been the leader of Venstre, the social-liberal party, since 1996. As of 2006, he is member of parliament for the fourth consecutive period, being first elected in 1993.

In 1981 Sponheim achieved a degree in agricultural science at the Agricultural University of Norway. From 1988 to 1991, he was mayor of his home kommune, Ulvik in Hordaland. He is also a farmer, and with his family he runs the ancestral farm, Sponheim, in Ulvik. He was elected to parliament as Venstre's only representative in the 1993 elections. During his campaign he pledged that he would walk from his home in Ulvik to Oslo if elected, something he did. During his first term in parliament he tried to carve a place in Norwegian politics for Venstre, who had been out of parliament since the 1985 elections, and to make the party a potential partner in a new non-socialist government. In this he succeeded in the 1997 elections when Venstre gained 5 new seats in parliament and became junior partner in the centrist first government of Kjell Magne Bondevik. Sponheim became party leader in 1996, succeeding Odd Einar Dørum

In the first government of Kjell Magne Bondevik, from October 1997 to March 2000, Sponheim was Minister of Trade and Industry. His main project in this position was to reduce the number of laws and regulations restricting business, espescially small business. In the second Bondevik government, from October 2001 to October 2005, he was Minister of Agriculture and Food. He used this position to promote Norwegian food in general and local agricultural specialties in particular, and to implement reforms aimed at making Norwegian agriculture more competitive. He also gained a lot of publicity for critizising Norwegians traveling to Sweden in order to buy cheaper food.

In the 2005 elections, Venstre increased its representation in parliament from 2 to 10 seats. Nevertheless, since the red-green coalition (Labour, Centre, Socialist Left) won a majority of seats and took over government, Venstre is now the smallest opposition party.

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