Borten, Per

Related Category: Scandinavian History: Biographies

(pĕr bôr´tôn), 1913–2005, Norwegian political leader and agronomist. Active in the agricultural administration and provincial government of Sør-Trøndelag (1946–65), he served as head of the region's Agrarian Youth Movement. He became a member of the Storting (parliament) in 1950 and in 1955 was made chairman of the Agrarian party. In 1965 he became prime minister. His coalition government of four non-Socialist parties resigned in 1971 after Borten revealed confidential information about Norway's negotiations for European Community membership.