Labour found extra billion for poor (Dagsavisen/Sunday)

Like a stage magician, Labour will today pull NOK 1 billion for the poor out of its party hat. The cash will go towards increased housing cost benefits, labour market initiatives and an increase in the basic personal tax allowance. Following the election all the political parties have been vying to be best at helping the poor. Today the Labour Party is due to present its ‘anti-poverty package’, one month after then Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg announced his government’s proposed national budget. "We feel too much emphasis has been placed on the Social Affairs Ministry’s NOK 130 million budget. We now want to highlight the totality of our anti-poverty policies," said Labour’s social affairs spokesman, Bjarne Håkon Hanssen, in an interview with Dagsavisen.

Not tempted by budget proposal (Dagsavisen)

None of the proposals in the budget can muster a majority in the Storting after the Progress Party’s Siv Jensen yesterday announced her party’s final rejection of the Government’s budget. In a last ditch effort to attract Progress Party support for the Bondevik government’s budget proposal, Jan Tore Sanner (Con) and the other government negotiators altered their budget proposal on hospital financing in the direction of the Progress Party’s demands. It was not enough. The Finance Committee has finished its deliberations and none of the proposals has the backing of a majority in the Storting, concluded committee chairman Siv Jensen last night.

Industry campaigns against Bondevik’s budget cuts (Dagens Næringsliv)

Norwegian business and industrial leaders have hurriedly put together a campaign to lobby the Government over its proposed budget cuts. They have hired a professional lobbyist to coordinate a frantic battle against the proposed cuts in the IT projects funded by the Norwegian Industrial and Regional Development Fund (SND). On Friday business leaders were cheering the Government’s proposed abolition of dividend tax, but they were not prepared for the fact that part of the tax reduction was to have been paid for by cuts in the SND’s budget.

Russians develop major new coalfields on Svalbard (Aftenposten/Saturday)

The state-owned Russian company, Trust Arktikugol, is planning to start development of several major new coalfields on Svalbard as early as next summer. The Russians have swept aside all doubts about their future interest in Svalbard. The vast coal deposits in Grumantbyen, between Longyearbyen, capital of the Norwegian sector of Svalbard and Barentsburg in the Russian sector, are to be brought into production. Norwegian Environment Minister Børge Brende has only a few reservations regarding the Russians’ plans for Svalbard.

Kværner strapped for cash to pay wages (Verdens Gang/Saturday)

On Thursday Kværner did not have enough cash to pay its wages bill. The financial crisis was solved at the last minute when Yukos Oil pulled a quick NOK 445 million out of the bag for the ailing Norwegian industrial conglomerate. Kværner’s difficulty in finding the cash for this week’s wages could also be an indication that unforeseen liquidity problems may topple the company before a refinancing package has been finalized.

New demands from Yukos today (Verdens Gang)

The advisers to Kværner’s major Russian shareholder, Yukos Oil, will present a new set of demands to Kværner’s bankers today. According to sources who are following the process in Kværner, the Russians are not completely satisfied with developments in the company. The Russians’ displeasure is aimed at the company’s bankers. VG understands that one of the issues Yukos Oil is not happy with is the extent of the control the banks will exercise over Kværner in the next few years.

Call for PM to sort out mess at Fisheries Ministry (Dagbladet/Saturday)

"The Prime Minister must sort out the mess at the Fisheries Ministry without delay," is the demand made by Ågot Valle (Socialist Left Party), who chairs the Storting’s Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs Committee. "Questions need to be asked about whether the Storting has the necessary confidence in the Fisheries Department’s political leadership. Cheating with resources which are already under pressure is not one of the goals the Storting has set for Norwegian fisheries policy. It is extremely unfortunate that a State Secretary should be linked to such cases. Once again we are seeing that the fisheries industry and the Fisheries Ministry are woven together in a highly regrettable fashion," said Ms Valle.

Minister to focus on sea (Dagsavisen)

Environment Minister Børge Brende is planning to prepare a report to the Storting on the state of the sea – with the main focus on the conflict between oil and fish. "Norway will be the first country in the world to carry out such a complete analysis," said Mr Brende. "The sea is a vital source of food and the fishing industry is our second largest export industry. If we harm the marine environment it will lead to a reduction in economic activity. This is why we must take care of our marine resources," said the Environment Minister.

Tug-of-war between EU and Norway over threatened cod stocks (NTB/Sunday)

Norway is to demand that cod fishing in the North Sea be reduced to a minimum when fish quota negotiations with the EU start on Monday. The question is whether the British and French will agree. Stocks of North Sea cod have fallen to a record low, and are in danger of collapsing altogether, according to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Cod quotas will be the most difficult issue when negotiations between Norway and the EU over North Sea fish quotas begin on Monday. The parties must reach an agreement by midnight on Friday.

Worth Noting

• Petrol prices have fallen by around NOK 2 since May. There is currently a price war going on in Oslo, and if it continues you could be able to buy petrol for under NOK 7 per litre this winter. (Aftenposten/Saturday)

• The investment bank, Handelsbanken, is predicting a fall in Norway’s non-oil related GDP of 1.2 per cent next year. Chief economist Knut Anton Mork fears the downturn could be even greater if oil prices continue to fall. "We are raising the alarm that we in Norway are also at risk." (Klassekampen/Saturday)
• Carl I. Hagen’s tough line on the budget has left a number of leading Christian Democrats feeling they have had enough. Next year they would prefer to seek a budget compromise with the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party. (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• Arne Treholt, convicted former Soviet spy, and Yukos Oil are embroiled in a public squabble over Mr Treholt’s claim that he has worked for the Russian oil company. Yukos says that the company would never hire a ‘traitor’ like Mr Treholt and is incensed by the former spy’s claim. (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)
• Anxiety and depression are the most common conditions suffered by the almost 800,000 Norwegians with psychological problems. An increasing number of people are daring to speak openly about their difficulties. (Dagbladet/Saturday)
• Noregs Mållag, an organization which promotes the use of ‘New Norwegian’, one of the two official written forms of the Norwegian language, has called on the Storting to earmark part of the financial support given to the newspaper industry for the benefit of those national newspapers which are written in ‘New Norwegian’. Cultural Affairs Minister Valgerd Svarstad Haugland has said she will consider the proposal. (NTB)
• Spot checks carried out by police officers at Gardermoen Airport show that 60 per cent of the foreigners who arrive in Norway on a tourist visa do not return home as agreed. Of the 7,909 people who have come to Norway so far this year from countries outside the Schengen area, only 326 people have returned home. (Aftenposten)
• City Court Judge Leiv Robberstad believes responsibility for deciding the fate of Norway’s ‘war children’ should lie with the historians and politicians, not with the lawyers. Judge Robberstad yesterday rejected the compensation claim brought by a group of individuals whose fathers were members of the German occupying forces during the Second World War, on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired on the actions for which compensation was being sought. (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

Today’s comment from Vårt Land

The Progress Party helped give the country a new government, and Carl I. Hagen has been keen to gain recognition for doing so. But if you help put a government in office you also have to take your share of the responsibility for giving that government a budget it is possible to govern with. The fact that the Progress Party’s deputy chairman, Siv Jensen, also chairs the Finance Committee does nothing to reduce that responsibility. The Progress Party must have a reasonable influence on the budget it is to vote on. But it is not reasonable to try and force through a budget which the Government cannot take responsibility for. This is what the Progress Party is trying to do by refusing to negotiate within the framework which the Government believes the country’s economic situation demands. As a result there is no majority for the budget in the Finance Committee. We understand the feelings of frustration felt by leading Christian Democrats, and their wish to seek a budget compromise with the Labour Party. But the Labour Party and the Conservatives have always been at opposite ends of the scale in terms of economic policy, even though they have cooperated on other issues. For the Christian Democrats it has been the opposite. They have often cooperated with Labour over the economy, but have been deeply opposed to them on other matters. As long as the Christian Democrats are part of a coalition with the Conservatives, they will have to put up with being dependent on the Progress Party where the budget is concerned. If this situation becomes unbearable, they will have to find another form for coalition. We cannot imagine that this is something the Progress Party is looking to provoke.