Norway Daily No. 201/99

The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 201/99

DATE: 19 October 1999

TELENOR SUSPICIOUS OF TELIA

(Dagens Næringsliv)

Telenor executives under Tormod Hermansen no longer trust their Swedish counterparts. The manoeuvring of Telia executives over the past few days has created an atmosphere of deep mistrust. "The balance of power has tipped over completely and landed on the Swedish side," says one Telenor officer. The situation was chaotic in Oslo as well as in Stockholm yesterday morning when Minister of Transport and Communications Dag Jostein Fjærvoll and Mr. Hermansen did not show up at the appointed time in Stockholm, appearing several hours later instead. "We will not have a working chairman of the board," declared Mr. Fjærvoll categorically yesterday.

MERGER AGREEMENT NOW SIGNED

(NTB)

A merger agreement between Telenor and Telia was agreed upon in Stockholm and signed at 6:15 AM Tuesday morning after talks lasting through the night. According to Swedish Minister of Industry Björn Rosengren, the controversial question of Jan-Åke Kark's precise position was resolved in the course of the night's discussions. Mr. Rosengren says there was never any intention that Mr. Kark was to be a full-time working board chairman. He will have a position as an advisor, however, at a salary of NOK 5.4 million. The initial value of the merged corporation was also set at NOK 150 billion, and it was further decided that the Swedish and Norwegian labour unions would have two seats each on the board of directors.

LABOUR, COALITION CLOSER TO AGREEMENT

(Dagsavisen)

The Labour Party's demands regarding cheaper alcohol and higher taxes were the topics of discussion in negotiations with the coalition parties last night. Both sides indicate that they are moving in the direction of an accord, though neither Labour finance policy spokeswoman Hill-Marta Solberg nor Christian Democratic finance policy spokesman Nils Gunnar Lie would disclose any details.

LABOUR OPPOSES CAPITAL TAX HIKE PROPOSAL

(Verdens Gang)

The Government proposed last night to raise the net tax rate, also called the capital tax, from 28 to 29 per cent in the 2000 fiscal budget. This would add approximately NOK 6 billion to government tax revenues. The Labour negotiators' immediate response was to reject the proposal.

BUDGET DEAL STILL A LONG WAY OFF

(Aftenposten)

Labour and the coalition parties will meet tomorrow to continue their negotiations on next year's fiscal budget. "We still have quite a way to go, but the negotiations are real, the dialogue is constructive and the atmosphere is just fine," says Labour finance policy spokeswoman Hill-Marta Solberg.

WEATHER REPORT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SENT

(Aftenposten)

The Storting received a statement from Minister of Transport and Communications Dag Jostein Fjærvoll yesterday in which he acknowledges that the report on winter weather at Gardermoen should have been submitted to the Storting. According to Mr. Fjærvoll, it is no longer possible to determine whether the Ministry of Transport and Communications ever received the Gardermoen weather report from the Civil Aviation Administration. Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen declares that the Transport Minister's statement is not sufficient to let former Minister of Transport and Communications Kjell Opseth off the hook, however.

NORWEGIANS HAVE BAD BONES

(Dagbladet)

Norwegian men and women have the most brittle bones in Europe. Every third woman and every tenth man over 50 years of age in Norway suffers from osteoporosis as a result of calcium deficiencies. Part of the reason is to found in our eating habits, say nutritionists. We should eat more green vegetables and drink less coffee and soft drinks. A little more wine would not be amiss, either.

WORTH NOTING

• Norwegian motorcycle outlaws are now the most violent in Scandinavia. Public prosecutors, police lawyers, police officers and witnesses are increasingly receiving threats. Only in Sweden is a similar trend taking place. (Aftenposten)
• Norsk Hydro, BP Amoco and Shell have been ordered to decide among themselves who will be in charge of the development of the gigantic gas field which goes by the name Ormen Lange. If they cannot agree, Minister of Petroleum and Energy Marit Arnstad will choose one of them. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Minister of Petroleum and Energy Marit Arnstad will evaluate the efforts of the two Norwegian oil companies Norsk Hydro and Statoil before handing out new exploration blocks. Twenty offshore oil and gas fields in the Norwegian sector have now been cleared for development. (NTB/Vårt Land)
• Violence seldom strikes at random, according to a recent study. The most typical victim of violence is a young working-class male from Oslo's East Side with alcohol problems, and he is often violent himself. (Aftenposten)
• The number of young people who take their own lives has gone down by 30 per cent in the past ten years. Statistics show that the suicide rate is highest in outlying districts. (Nationen)
• A seven-year old girl was abandoned outside the Oslo police station last Friday. She is the 475th child this year suddenly to appear alone in Norway with no known relatives. Other children, some as young as one year old, share her fate. (Verdens Gang)
• Teenage alcohol consumption has skyrocketed in the 1990s. Every fourth eighth grader and every second tenth grader drinks regularly, and girls now drink just as much as boys. (Dagbladet)
• Police in the Kongsvinger district are now stalking hunters who boast of illegal wolf hunting. (Aftenposten)

TODAY'S COMMENT

Norway has now been shown to be environmentally challenged. Norwegians consume more energy and discard more refuse then people in other countries. We travel more by air, send large quantities of cargo around the country and continue to develop our road network. We are much better when it comes to industrial waste and pesticides - and our private motoring mileage is comparatively low. Our environmental efforts, according to the strictest definition of the word, have met with a fair amount of success, but our consumer habits leave something to be desired. A broader interpretation of environmental policy would exact its price in the form of restrictions on what most Norwegians have come to regard as inalienable rights. It is not our politicians who are environmentally challenged. We are all responsible. (Vårt Land)