Anti-immigration figure named Norway's new immigration minister

(OSLO) - Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Wednesday appointed an anti-immigration politician as the country's immigration and integration minister, as Europe grapples with a huge influx of refugees.

The new minister is 37-year-old Sylvi Listhaug of the populist Progress Party.

Last month, when she was agriculture minister, she criticised "the tyranny of kindness that is blowing over Norwegian society like a nightmare."

Prime Minister Solberg heads a minority coalition made up of her own Conservative Party and the Progress Party, with the latter known for its hardline stance on immigration.

Listhaug's appointment also marks the merging of the immigration and integration departments.

"I know there are big synergies to be had by merging the two," Solberg said as she presented a cabinet reshuffle that saw the arrival of four new ministers and three internal changes.

Europe is facing its biggest migratory crisis since the end of World War II, and Norway has this year received a record 30,000 asylum requests.

The flow of migrants to the country has however dropped significantly in recent weeks owing to a tightening of asylum policy, the reintroduction of border controls in neighbouring Sweden and the arrival of cold, wintry weather.