Call for younger people in Labour leadership (Dagsavisen)

The controversial appointment of Martin Kolberg as Labour’s new party secretary has sparked off a further power struggle within the party. "It is now important to let younger people take over key positions within the party. This is also important when the annual conference comes to elect the party secretary," said Eva Kristin Hansen, leader of the Labour Party’s youth wing (AUF). The AUF leader, who is one of Trond Giske’s close allies, declined to name any potential candidates at this time.

Up and coming

If Thorbjørn Jagland is voted out as Labour Party chairman, Trond Giske and Karita Bekkemellem Orheim are both strong candidates for the deputy chairmanship. But both of them cannot get the job at the same time – it would bring down the age of the party leadership too much. The big question is whether Thorbjørn Jagland survives as party leader at Labour’s annual conference in November next year. Few, if any, are prepared at this stage to make any hard and fast predictions about the outcome of the leadership cliff-hanger.

Power struggle behind closed doors (Dagbladet)

Highly placed sources in the Labour Party are afraid that the appointment of Martin Kolberg as party secretary in a move closely resembling a palace coup could spark off a bitter and public struggle for power. The manoeuvre which effectively neutralized the national executive committee has shaken party activists. Many are uncertain about how to interpret the situation in the party leadership. There are already several versions circulating of the events following Solveig Torsvik’s resignation, and several different interpretations.

Interest rate cut – and higher house prices (Aftenposten)

The Norwegian Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates by at least 0.25 per cent today. This means NOK 1.5 billion extra in the pockets of the country’s wage-earners. Yesterday’s interest rate cut in the USA increases the chances of a further cut in Norwegian rates in the new year. House prices will rise by at least 5 per cent next year, according to estimates by the Norwegian Association of Real Estate Agents. Other players believe the increase will be closer to 10 per cent.

Politicians get the best jobs (Dagbladet)

A career in politics is no longer enough for top Norwegian politicians. An increasing number of them are using politics as a springboard to well-paid jobs in the private sector. "Charisma and a well-known face mean more and more. What we therefore get are politicians whose ultimate goal is neither the party nor the issues," according to political science professor, Trond Nordby.

Knives being sharpened ahead of gas sales battle (Dagens Næringsliv)

Norsk Hydro and Statoil, both partly state-owned companies, are now fighting each other for positions in the growing gas market. The struggle is taking place against the backdrop of threats by the EU to impose billion kroner fines and demand the renegotiation of huge gas sales agreements. This year Norway has sold gas to the tune of NOK 60 billion, mostly through the Gas Negotiation Commission.

Hospitals NOK 1.5 billion short (Aftenposten)

Norway’s hospitals are facing a budget deficit next year of around NOK 1.5 billion, and have been told not to expect any more cash handouts from the Government. The first year of the reformed hospital administration could therefore be the year when fewer patients receive treatment. Reports of a budget shortfall varying between NOK 150 million and NOK 400 million have been received from all parts of the country.

Storting to get tougher with Telenor (Dagens Næringsliv)

The new government has rapidly proved itself to be more critical of Telenor’s conditions in the telecoms market than its predecessors. In connection with the recent national budget negotiations the Storting’s Business and Industry Committee urged the Ministry of Trade and Industry to look more closely at the competitive situation in the telecoms market, while the Ministry of Transport this autumn initiated a review of the market conditions in the mobile phone sector. "Telenor has been allowed to steer Norway’s telecommunications policy to a far too great extent," said Ivar Kristiansen (Con), leader of the Storting’s Business and Industry Committee. Mr Kristiansen is promising tougher times ahead for Telenor’s many lobbyists.

Bigger inheritance (Dagsavisen)

The new generation of elderly people, the so-called grey panthers, are not after all spending all their money on expensive holidays, golf and eating out, according to a recent analysis from the Norwegian Savings Banks’ Association. Around NOK 40 billion is transferred every year to children and grandchildren either as gifts or bequests. And that figure will go on rising. Most of us can look forward to receiving a bigger inheritance in the years ahead.

Worth Noting

• In the first 11 months of the year customs officers have confiscated three times as much foreign currency as in the whole of 2000. At the same time the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime has received 960 new tip-offs regarding possible money laundering. This is 70 more than last year. (Dagsavisen)
• "Martin Kolberg is definitely a relevant candidate when the annual conference elects a party secretary next year. At the same time the number of women must be considered when the composition of the national executive committee and the party leadership is to be determined," said Karita Bekkemellem Orheim, leader of the Labour Party’s women’s movement and member of the party’s national executive committee. (Dagbladet)
• Norway’s new Agriculture Minister Lars Sponheim is opposed to what many farmers regard as fundamental to the industry - Norway’s oldest law, the Allodial Rights Act, which regulates the inheritance of agricultural land. "The Allodial Rights Act has become an anachronism, but the Conservative Party’s conservatism is preventing the Government from changing any of its provisions," he said. (Nationen)
• The Labour Party must increase its ability to tolerate internal disagreement on individual issues, according to Labour’s new party secretary, Martin Kolberg. (Dagsavisen)
• In future the European Commission wants Norway to discuss possible cuts in oil production with the EU before a decision is made. The EU raised the issue at a meeting of the EEA Committee yesterday. The EU does not like the fact that Norway is implementing measures to keep up the price of oil. (Dagens Næringsliv)

Today’s comment from Vårt Land

Norway is not at the bottom of the environmental class, but in contrast to the top marks we received in 1993 our report card for 2001 carries a number of notes pointing to areas where we ‘must try harder’. The OECD has listed several specific areas where Norway is struggling to meet key international environmental commitments, including agreements for cleaner air and a cleaner sea. Norway was falling into a self-satisfied torpor even prior to 1993. We let ourselves be blinded by the glow surrounding Gro Harlem Brundtland – ‘the world’s environmental mother figure’. We were loud in our condemnation of environmental hooligans in other countries, but were quietly finding it easier and easier to compromise on important environmental considerations. Higher living standards and higher profits were achieved at the expense of the environment. The failings highlighted in the OECD report are certainly not trivial. Norway’s supply of drinking water is inadequate, our waste goes astray, the management of our natural resources is poor, carbon dioxide emissions are increasing and there is greater pressure on the environment in general. With this in mind it is paradoxical to think that the first Bondevik government was forced to resign because it refused to build environmentally dirty gas-fired power stations. Just as paradoxical is the Conservative Party’s participation in a new Bondevik government in which it actually provides the Environment Minister. But Børge Brende has proved himself to be a minister capable of pushing his own party and the Government in the right direction. When even the organization Future in our Hands gives Mr Brende a Christmas ovation for his positive efforts, there is hope that the environment has gained an effective advocate.