The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 51/00

Date: 13 March 2000

NO HELP FOR STOLTENBERG (Dagsavisen-Saturday)

Parliamentary leaders for the other parties offered little encouragement to Prime Minister-designate Jens Stoltenberg on Friday as he sounded them out on the possibilities that would confront a new Labour Government. None of the opposition parties gave him any active support, but he will inform the Palace today that he accepts the task of forming a new Government.

INTERNAL STRUGGLE FOR POWER IN LABOUR PARTY (Aftenposten-Saturday)

Prime Minister-designate Jens Stoltenberg is saddled with problems even before his Government is in place. When Thorbjørn Jagland stepped aside for Mr. Stoltenberg as Labour’s candidate for prime minister, he insisted that as party chairman, he would continue to have the final say in internal party fora where party policy is forged. But if he is given a ministerial post in the new Government, Mr. Jagland will have to accede to Prime Minister Stoltenberg. Relations between the two are fragile, and the process of forming a new Government may set off a struggle for power.

LONG LIST FOR NEW PM TO FILL (Dagens Næringsliv-Saturday)

Among the new duties awaiting Prime Minister-designate Jens Stoltenberg is a long list of controversial issues which he will find difficult to resolve. Tax cuts on options may be the first matter his Government will be forced to concede defeat on with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) raging in the background. And this is only the beginning. Other thorny issues include Statoil’s partial privatization, further road construction projects, VAT amendments, homeowner taxation, gas-fired power plants, the structure of the banking industry, alcohol taxation, pornography legislation and food additives. But Mr. Stoltenberg also has a golden opportunity to make his name as a promoter of gender equality by following in the steps of former Labour Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland whose Government acquired a global reputation for its high percentage of women.

LABOUR UNDER PRESSURE TO ACHIEVE IMPRESSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL RECORD (Dagsavisen)

Because Labour came to power on an environmentally-dubious measure promoting gas-fired power plants, it will be imperative for the new Stoltenberg Government to show a high environmental profile. He will not be able to put a political lightweight in charge of the Ministry of the Environment. The new Government will also be under pressure to show environmental results that do not smell of gas.

COALITION FINDS STRENGTH IN DEFEAT (Nationen-Saturday)

The three parties of the political centre will continue to act in a parliamentary coalition, with Kjell Magne Bondevik as its candidate for Prime Minister at the next general election. The chairmen of the three parties announced this on the same day the Bondevik Government tendered its resignation. The three parties also share an antipathy towards the Conservatives for their alliance with Labour on the gas-power issue.

CONCERN IN FOREIGN MINISTRY OVER JAGLAND’S DEVOTION TO FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Aftenposten)

Thorbjørn Jagland is generally expected to be Labour’s first choice to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but there is some concern in among senior Ministry officials as to the amount of time he is prepared to devote to the effort of promoting Norway’s candidacy for the UN Security Council. A number of countries have been positioning themselves for a term on the Security Council, and a vote will be held in the General Assembly in October. We have made considerable progress already, but the new Foreign Minister will still have to spend a great deal of time travelling around the world, says Aftenposten’s source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But the campaign for this prestigious spot in the UN is not the only thing that will demand his attention. The office of Foreign Minister could make it difficult for him to maintain close contact with lower-level party organizations around the country. This is something Mr. Jagland, who is still chairman of the Labour Party, said he would devote time to when he withdrew his candidacy for the prime ministry in favour of Jens Stoltenberg.

FRED OLSEN DICTATED LABOUR COMMENTS (Dagens Næringsliv)

Shipping magnate Fred Olsen’s men in IT Fornebu dictated Labour’s remarks in the recommendation submitted by the parliamentary Committee on Business and Industry. Mr. Olsen’s henchmen faxed their text to the Storting, where Labour MPs inserted them into the text of the committee’s recommendation. Dagens Næringsliv has acquired material showing how Mr. Olsen’s retainers have maintained unusually close contact with Labour members of the Business and Industry Committee.

ACCIDENTS HALT MILITARY EXERCISE (Aftenposten)

The large-scale military exercise Joint Winter was halted the day the war was scheduled to begin after four military officers were killed in two accidents on Saturday. One was killed in a traffic accident earlier in the day and three more lost their lives the same evening when the roof of the Bardufoss Community Centre collapsed under the weight of a half-metre of snow. There are indications that the snow load alone should not have been sufficient to cause the collapse, and police are investigating the matter further.

WORTH NOTING

• Kjell Magne Bondevik was prevailed upon to lead the centrist coalition’s shadow Government, which aims to wrest power back from Jens Stoltenberg and retaliate for their perceived betrayal by the Conservatives with Jan Petersen in the lead. (Dagsavisen-Saturday)
• It is Thorbjørn Jagland’s opinion that the strategy he has maintained since 1997 is what has enabled Labour to return to power. Speaking with some feeling to Oslo Labour’s annual meeting last night, Mr. Jagland defended his strategy of the past two years, adding, however, that it cost him the opportunity of returning as prime minister. (Aftenposten-Saturday)
• Labour’s own opponents to gas-burning power plants have not given up. The battle against polluting power plants is not over yet—not even within the party. (Verdens Gang-Saturday)
• Norway exported over NOK 2.4 billion worth of seafood in February, a one per cent increase over February 1999. (NTB)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Vårt Land and Aftenposten

There is something quirky about the part played by the Conservatives in the parliamentary events of the past few days. While there was nothing wring with the stand taken by the party on the gas-power issue – that was perfectly legitimate – it is not quite so easy to understand party chairman Jan Petersen’s subsequent comments. These bring to mind some equally astonishing comments made by Mr. Petersen on the night of the 1997 general election regarding the political situation at the time. It was as if he had not understood what had happened at all. We were left with something of the same impression Thursday night. After having helped topple a non-socialist Government, Mr. Petersen proposed a coalition encompassing all the non-socialist parties as he questioned the inevitability of leaving Jens Stoltenberg to form a new (Labour) Government. One plausible explanation is that the Conservatives are deliberately aiming to give Mr. Stoltenberg a brutal introduction to the reality of becoming Prime Minister in order to weaken his position in the coming general elections. If this is so, we will have a politically turbulent period to look forward to, and that is hardly in the nation’s best interests. (Vårt Land-Saturday)

It is very likely that the Conservatives’ joint action with Labour to topple the Bondevik Government has ruined any possibility of a broad non-socialist alliance for the rest of the present electoral term. Mr. Petersen’s invitation to the centrist parties to collaborate, coming virtually simultaneously with the Bondevik Government’s fall, has certainly backfired. One who has just toppled one non-socialist coalition government should not immediately start discussing the creation of a new one. The declared intention of the three centrist parties to maintain their coalition, with Kjell Magne Bondevik as their candidate for prime minister in the 2001 general election, make the political centre a more credible alternative than it was prior to the last election. Yet we must not discount the possibility of extensive alterations in the political landscape after Labour and the Conservatives joined forces to bring down the Bondevik Government on the issue of accepting gas-fired power plants based on conventional, polluting technology. This is such an unusual political event, and today’s voters are so easily swayed, that one should not rule out the eventuality of substantial shifts in voter loyalties among the political parties. What happened in the Storting on Thursday could have a decisive impact on the outcome of next year’s general election. (Aftenposten)