Day-care shortfall (Aftenposten/Sunday)

If the country’s politicians are going to keep their promises they will have to increase the number of nursery places by 21,000 before the end of next year, according to details obtained from 424 of the country’s 434 local authorities. The shortfall is largest in urban areas, while rural communities are better off. 150 local authorities already have enough nursery places to cover demand. The slowest-paced local authorities will not achieve full nursery coverage until 2008.

Minister threatens local authorities over day-care (Aftenposten)

Children and Family Affairs Minister Laila Dåvøy is not ruling out government measures to force local authorities to fulfil their promises with regard to the provision of day care for pre-school children. She says that making it mandatory for local authorities to provide sufficient numbers of nursery places is a ‘very possible alternative’. The Government will not decide whether to make such a move until later in the year.

More immigrant labour may be needed (Dagbladet)

Progress Party social affairs spokesman Jon Alvheim has said it may be necessary to increase the number of foreign workers being admitted to Norway, if this is the only way to ensure adequate care of the elderly. The health service is currently short of 3,000 nursing assistants. "This is not a problem today, but we may have to increase the number of immigrant workers in the future if we cannot solve the labour shortage in the health service by other means," said Mr Alvheim.

Hard pressed farmers (Aftenposten)

The number of farms being wound up is now as high as 2,500 per year – just over 200 a month. In the past five years 30 per cent of pig farmers and 20 per cent of dairy farmers have thrown in the towel. Farmers will have to give up the tradition of running family-owned farms. They should join together in collectively owned limited companies, says professor Reidar Almås of the Norwegian Centre for Rural Research.

Minister wants to put flowers in fuel (Vårt Land)

The Government is considering a proposal to add five per cent biologically produced fuel to diesel and petrol in order to reduce greenhouse emissions. Agriculture Minister Lars Sponheim is an enthusiastic supporter of the idea, which has been put on the agenda this spring because the Socialist Left Party has tabled a proposal to that effect in the Storting, and because the EU is considering a directive which would make it mandatory. "There are organizations in Norway which are ready to start refineries to produce fuel from agricultural produce and from refuse," said Mr Sponheim, who believes this is an excellent opportunity for Norway’s rural areas.

Snow White snafu could have been solved (Aftenposten/Saturday)

The shock announcement that development work on the Snow White oil and gas field had been halted until further notice spread like wild fire in political circles yesterday. The oil companies are now awaiting clarification from the authorities before going ahead with the project and giving final approval for the investment of more than NOK 40 billion. The uncertainty created by the complaint sent by the environmental foundation, Bellona, to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) could have been avoided if the previous government had checked the issue with the ESA in Brussels, which monitors compliance with the EEA Agreement, before construction work began.

Record poll for political right (Nationen)

Almost half of Norwegian voters say they would vote for the Conservatives or the Progress Party, according to today’s opinion poll. A combined score of 47.6 per cent is a record for our poll. The Labour Party’s position remains disastrous. A result of 17.3 per cent, up a mere 0.1 percentage point on February’s figures, can be little consolation. "This just confirms a level for Labour which can only be described as dire," said party secretary Martin Kolberg.

Worth Noting

• Defence Minister Kristin Krohn Devold has said it is not certain that the public would be told if Norwegian soldiers were wounded in Afghanistan. (Dagbladet/Saturday)
• Insurance companies may lose the right to ask for details of parents’ illnesses when an individual applies for life insurance cover. Health Minister Dagfinn Høybråten is considering whether to ban the insurance companies’ current practice in connection with insurance applications. (Vårt Land/Saturday)
• Young people think that supermarket chains offer the best part-time jobs. Work in the health sector, as well as the travel and cleaning industries does not appeal to youngsters. (Dagsavisen)
• Norway’s capital is ugly compared with other capital cities. Seven out of ten people interviewed in an ACNielsen poll said they thought Oslo was either more or less unattractive, or downright ugly. (Dagsavisen/Sunday)
• Statoil is refusing to continue development of the Snow White oil and gas field unless Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss clarifies the project’s financial framework. However, Statoil has declined to say what kind of clarification it is looking for. (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)
• The environmental lobby is demanding concrete measures to be included in the Government’s report on climate change. However, Environment Minister Børge Brende believes the report demonstrates that Norway will meet its Kyoto obligations. (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• Telenor chief executive Tormod Hermansen cost the company over NOK 8 million last year. It is the outgoing chief executive’s future pension which costs a packet. In addition to Mr Hermansen’s basic salary of NOK 3 million, Telenor had to pay NOK 5,171,856 in pension premiums last year. (Verdens Gang/Saturday)
• The final price tag for the luxury resort ship "The World", which was built at the Norwegian shipyard, Fosen mek. Verksteder, has been set at USD 264 million (NOK 2.3 billion). This is just USD 2 million more than was stipulated in the contract, according to ResidenSea, the consortium which has now taken delivery of the ship. (Dagens Næringsliv)

Today’s comment from Dagens Næringsliv

The Socialist Left Party is calling for a complete review of Norwegian regional policy, and has proposed the setting up of a regional policy commission. This is an extremely good suggestion. Regional policy is one of the main variables in Norwegian politics. The centre-periphery axis regularly proves to be just as important as the difference between left and right. At the same time Norwegian regional policy is full of paradoxes, the most important of which is that it is extremely expensive, while failing to meet its objectives. It has not succeeded in preserving today’s demographic structure, let alone reversing the movement of people away from outlying areas. The speed of centralization has been slowed, but because women in rural areas today give birth to as few children as women in the cities, the researchers from Statistics Norway can forecast relatively precisely that the depopulation of rural communities will continue over the next 20-30 years. Norwegian regional policy is also out of step with regional policy as it is practiced and debated elsewhere in Europe. Be that as it may: the Socialist Left Party’s Inge Ryan and Conservative Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg agree that today’s regional policy is not working. Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik is also reported to have a positive wait-and-see attitude to the idea of a regional policy commission. So all that is needed is to get started.