Norway to boost presence in Zimbabwe (Aftenposten)

The EU has decided to withdraw its observers, who were to have monitored the presidential elections on 9 and 10 March. The contingent of 30 EU observers left Zimbabwe yesterday. In contrast, Norway will not be withdrawing its election observer mission, and is in fact considering whether to increase its size. Four Norwegian observers have already been in Zimbabwe for a week.

Lottery cash for world’s poor (Vårt Land)

Labour leader Thorbjørn Jagland has proposed a substantial increase in Norwegian development assistance. Mr Jagland is calling for the establishment of a global lottery game, with the proceeds going to alleviate poverty. He would like Norway’s aid budget to be increased to NOK 1.5 billion so that the country can be a ‘standard-bearer’ for this issue when the world’s leaders meet in March. He also wants Norway to back proposals for a global lottery game to benefit the poor and a tax on foreign exchange transactions or arms sales.

Long wait for a nursing home place will continue (Aftenposten)

Social Affairs Minister Ingjerd Schou has promised to fulfil the plan which will lead to the creation of 5,000 more nursing home places in 2005 than we had in 1998. But it will not be enough. The number of elderly people is increasing so fast that the waiting lists for nursing home places are only being marginally reduced. During a debate in the Storting yesterday, the Progress Party’s Jon Alvheim pointed to calculations published by the Norwegian Medical Association which showed a probable shortfall of 13,000 nursing home places last year.

Statoil to invest more abroad (Dagens Næringsliv)

Statoil chief executive Olav Fjell is planning to boost the company’s foreign investments in the next few years. Yesterday he published a good financial result, but admitted that the market is getting steadily tougher. "We will increase our focus on our international business activities and be more aggressive in our approach than we indicated at the time of our stock market launch," said Mr Fjell yesterday, when he presented Statoil’s preliminary results for 2001.

Progress Party reaches for the sky – Labour hits rock bottom (Dagsavisen)

The Labour Party is only the country’s third largest party. Labour has the backing of less than 20 per cent of the voters, while the Progress Party, which jumps more than six percentage points, is now breathing down the Conservative Party’s neck. Labour slides 5.1 points compared to the previous poll and now stands at 19.6 per cent. This is a record low on the poll AC Nielsen carries out for the Newspapers’ News Agency (ANB). The Progress Party leaps ahead 6.7 points to 21.7 per cent. The Conservatives have found their level at around 23 per cent, and are the country’s largest party with the support of 23.4 per cent of the electorate.

Double pension payout for Almskog (Dagens Næringsliv)

Former Kværner chief executive Kjell Almskog is reported to have received pension payouts twice over. Both Kværner and ABB are thought to have provided pensions for Mr Almskog. When he took over as chief executive of Kværner in December 1998 the plan was for Kværner and ABB to share responsibility for Mr Almskog’s future pension. But when he was forced to resign his position in November last year, it was Kværner which paid out the entire pension, amounting to a lump sum of NOK 47 million. Dagens Næringsliv (DN) has received confirmation of this from Geir Arne Drangeid, head of Kværner’s corporate communications department. DN understands that Mr Almskog has a separate pension agreement with ABB and has therefore been paid a double pension. The newspaper has not managed to confirm the value of the pension agreement Mr Almskog has with ABB Norge, or if it has been paid out. But it is DN’s understanding that Mr Almskog has in fact received the money.

Worth Noting

• Last year Oslo’s Gardermoen Airport probably made a NOK 100 million operating loss, and may be forced to ask the Storting for emergency financial assistance if the market does not improve. And this year the airport authority is due to pay NOK 1.1 billion in loan repayments and interest. (Aftenposten)
• A survey carried out by the Norwegian Association of Local Authorities (KS) in 134 Norwegian local authorities shows that this year 33 per cent of them will be making cuts in their provision of care for the elderly. 56 per cent of the local authorities will be forced to cut the level of service they provide in order to balance their budgets for 2002. (Klassekampen)
• Oil generates the assets we will live off in the future, but the industry is increasingly being pilloried and harassed, according to Gunnar Berge, head of the Petroleum Directorate, and former Petroleum and Energy Minister Olav Akselsen. The two are angry over what they see as unwarranted attacks on a key industry which will continue to generate revenues of NOK 100 billion each year for a generation or two to come. (Dagbladet)
• The Labour Party’s women’s movement is demanding that the party should pay for babysitters so that parents can attend meetings. The proposal is part of the movement’s efforts to maintain, and preferably increase, the number of women candidates for the local and county council elections in 2003. (Verdens Gang)
• Low costs and tax exemptions for companies make Estonia an attractive country for Norwegian businesses. Norway is the third largest foreign investor in Estonia, after Finland and Sweden. (NTB)
• Arcus Produkter and seven other importers of wines and spirits are suing Vinmonopolet, the state-owned retail liquor monopoly, for around NOK 100 million. The dispute concerns a disagreement over the sale of boxed wines. The plaintiffs claim that Vinmonopolet has for several years taken too high a margin on the sale of boxed wines. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• In the course of just one year Norwegian dramatist Jon Fosse has had 115 premieres of his works in Europe. (Aftenposten)

Today’s comment from Vårt Land

Norwegians have good memories – that much is our due. In particular we remember those who betrayed their country when it was in danger, and the magnitude of the betrayal is proportional to the standing of the individual responsible. For this reason Knut Hamsun became one of our greatest traitors, beaten internationally only by Quisling himself. It is now 50 years since Hamsun disappeared down overgrown paths, which raises the ritual Norwegian debate – is it not time to honour him with a street name or a town square or something similar? Perhaps it is time to put the entire discussion to one side, and say what the majority of people agree on: Hamsun was one of our most important authors, but his love for German culture led him into dangerous political waters. He was not alone.

Together with Sigrid Undset, Hamsun is the non-contemporary author who has retained the strongest grasp on the country’s readership. That is strange enough in itself, the two were direct opposites – not least in their views on Germany. In the long term it will seem simply bizarre to have Hamsun as an important, much-read author without it being possible to honour him in the usual way. We and our descendents will gradually have to forget a great deal in order to move on, and we should simply be glad that Hamsun’s books have a completely different future before them than the man’s political opinions. Is it not time to put an end to this discussion?