Motorists to lose driving licence after eight penalty points (Aftenposten)

Motorists who collect eight penalty points in the course of a three-year period, will lose their driving licences for six months. The penalty points system, which the Transport Ministry believes will reduce the number of deaths and injuries on the road by almost 100 each year, is due to be formally approved tomorrow. Motorists will receive penalty points for speeding, illegal overtaking, driving through a red light and violation of the give-way rules. "If you have got six penalty points, it is likely that you will drive more carefully," said Olav Søfteland, head of the Directorate of Public Roads.

Pushed out of the workplace (Dagsavisen)

An increasing number of people are being pushed out of the workplace due to demands for higher levels of education, a faster pace of work and higher productivity. A recent survey shows that low socio-economic status is among the most important non-medical reasons people are granted incapacity benefit. "It seems as though the Norwegian workplace is becoming increasingly exclusionary. For those without an adequate education it can easily become extremely difficult to cope with the demands of working life," said researcher Dr Steinar Krokstad.

Is Norway too tough on asylum seekers? (Aftenposten)

The Government is planning to answer this question by examining why so few asylum seekers are granted asylum, while a much larger number of people are granted residence permits on humanitarian grounds. "Norway grants fewer people asylum than any other Nordic country. We need a proper basis on which to evaluate if we are too strict in our interpretation of what constitutes grounds for asylum, for example," said Kristin Ørmen Johnsen, State Secretary at the Local Government and Regional Affairs Ministry. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has several times indicated that Norway should grant asylum to a larger number of people – in other words, grant them refugee status.

Devold called to account (Klassekampen/Saturday)

The Storting’s Defence Committee has summoned Defence Minister Kristin Krohn Devold to explain her decision regarding Norway’s involvement in the US Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project. It could result in the Storting blocking Norway’s signature to the agreement with the USA on the country’s further participation in the project. Norway has been involved in the preparatory phases of the prestigious JSF development project since 1997, but there has never been any political debate on the issue in the Storting.

Opposition leans on Government over pre-school day care (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

The opposition parties in the Storting are going to force the Government to accept their demands for a price cap of NOK 1,500 per nursery place. Negotiations to agree a broad-based compromise deal on pre-school day care broke down on Thursday. Yesterday finance policy spokesmen for the Labour Party, Socialist Left Party, Progress Party and Centre Party met to get the job done themselves. The governing coalition parties will not be involved in shaping the most important ever reform of pre-school day care. The Government has also suffered defeat over the number of new nursing home places to be built. 5,000 new places will now be built.

Norway’s largest listed corporations see profits halved (Aftenposten)

The first quarter financial results of the 50 largest companies on the Oslo Stock Exchange were more than halved compared with the same period last year. Statoil, Norsk Hydro, Telenor, SAS and Norske Skog have all posted considerably lower profits. A slow-down in the world economy as well as a significant fall in raw materials prices must take most of the blame for this development.

Norwegian unit trusts crash (Dagbladet)

Over the past five years the value of Norwegian unit trusts has fallen on average by six per cent – while those who have put their savings in the bank have earned more than 30 per cent. The world’s stock markets have plummeted since the start of this year in particular. "We think we have hit bottom. It could therefore be a sensible move to buy unit trusts now," says Bjørn Erik Sættem, editor of the consumer finance magazine, Dine Penger.

Experts propose cut in interest rate relief (Dagens Næringsliv)

Abolition of tax relief on interest rates could save those Norwegian industrial producers who are faced with international competition, according to Hermod Skånland, former governor of the Norwegian Central Bank, and researcher Per Richard Johansen. A move of that kind would bring both interest rates and the exchange rate down. This would benefit industry, which is currently struggling with the effects of a record strong Norwegian krone.

Worth Noting

• Justice Minister Odd Einar Dørum wants to strengthen the rights of victims and victims’ next of kin in criminal cases involving violence. Among the Minister’s proposals are measures to give the parents of murdered children much more say in the judicial process being conducted against those charged with the offence. (Dagsavisen/Sunday)
• From tomorrow consumers will have a legal right to demand that the tap water provided by local authorities maintains a certain minimum quality. If it does not, they can demand a rebate. In 1999, 1,345,000 people received tap water which did not meet the standards set by Norwegian regulations or EEA directives. (Aftenposten/Sunday)
• NSB’s high-speed tilting trains, known as Signature trains, have been hit by more technical trouble. The tilting mechanism is so bad that it has been turned off. Again. The same thing happened in August 2000, which left the tilting trains not tilting for quite some time. (Dagbladet/Saturday)
• Armed police officers from the Romerike police district arrested 21 people yesterday in a major drug bust in Lillestrøm. Details of the massive police action were kept under wraps for quite some time. (Dagbladet)
• Special forces and mine clearance experts are among the contributions Norway will make to Nato. The alliance’s defence ministers met yesterday in Brussels to discuss the support that the smaller member nations can provide. (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• From 1 July it will be more expensive to insure your car and your home – at least if you are a Vesta customer. From that date the insurance company, Vesta, is raising its premiums by up to 8.5 per cent. (Verdens Gang/Sunday)
• The market value of IT companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange has fallen by NOK 25 billion since 14 May, which corresponds to a drop of more than NOK 1 billion per day. Only once in the course of the IT Index’s six-year history have IT share prices been lower. That was on 21 September last year. Now the situation could get even worse. (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)

Today’s comment from Aftenposten

A parliamentary majority consisting of the four opposition parties, the Labour Party, the Progress Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party, are today putting the finishing touches to what they describe as the major pre-school day care agreement. The aim is to present a scheme which will guarantee that there are enough nursery places for all who want one, and that the maximum price for a place is low enough to ensure that parents can afford to make use of the increasing availability. We fear that this ambition will remain just that since the four parties do not agree on how this extremely costly agreement is to be financed. Instead they have handed responsibility for finding a solution to this the most difficult part of the scheme to the governing coalition. The gap between words and reality is simply far too great. We will have to wait until this autumn’s debate on next year’s national budget to find out if there really is a parliamentary majority which is willing to join hands to pay for the promises they have just made. In the meantime salary expenses are rising so much that private nurseries will be forced to put their prices up from this autumn, not down – despite an increase in state funding of 10 per cent from 1 August. The political game which is now being played out over pre-school day care is more the product of the opposition parties’ desire to humiliate the Government rather than representing a serious attempt to meet parents’ twin demands of increased availability and lower prices.