The Conservatives, led by prime minister-designate Erna Solberg, and their smaller ally, the populist Progress party, cleared one of the last major hurdles with the deal, paving the way for the two to take power on October 18 after winning elections last month.
"There are areas where we disagree but fewer than many would have believed," Solberg, 52, told a news conference. "Even though Norway is a fantastic country, some people fall through the safety net. ... we will try to plug the holes."
Solberg's government will rule in a minority after failing to win over several small centrist parties. But minority governments are common in Nordic countries and the Conservatives have enlisted the formal outside backing of the Liberals and the Christian Democrats to ensure stability.
The deal, which did not divide up cabinet posts, also puts the anti-immigration and anti-tax Progress Party in government for the first time in its 40 years - a big shift for a party that has spent years softening its image and was until now considered too radical for government.
The new coalition is to maintain restraint in spending oil money, upholding the current spending cap, but officials said there was some leeway under the rule and it would lower taxes for the average wage earner, gradually wind down the wealth tax and abolish the inheritance tax.
Keeping to promises of increased infrastructure investments, the coalition parties also agreed to set up an extra-budgetary fund for projects like road and rail building to the tune of 100 billion crowns ($16.75 billion) over the next five years.
Read more: Norway's Conservatives clinch coalition deal | Reuters
"There are areas where we disagree but fewer than many would have believed," Solberg, 52, told a news conference. "Even though Norway is a fantastic country, some people fall through the safety net. ... we will try to plug the holes."
Solberg's government will rule in a minority after failing to win over several small centrist parties. But minority governments are common in Nordic countries and the Conservatives have enlisted the formal outside backing of the Liberals and the Christian Democrats to ensure stability.
The deal, which did not divide up cabinet posts, also puts the anti-immigration and anti-tax Progress Party in government for the first time in its 40 years - a big shift for a party that has spent years softening its image and was until now considered too radical for government.
The new coalition is to maintain restraint in spending oil money, upholding the current spending cap, but officials said there was some leeway under the rule and it would lower taxes for the average wage earner, gradually wind down the wealth tax and abolish the inheritance tax.
Keeping to promises of increased infrastructure investments, the coalition parties also agreed to set up an extra-budgetary fund for projects like road and rail building to the tune of 100 billion crowns ($16.75 billion) over the next five years.
Read more: Norway's Conservatives clinch coalition deal | Reuters
