1 Thorbjørn’s tough timetable

After the heavy pressure of recent weeks Labour Party chairman Thorbjørn Jagland was yesterday admitted to hospital. He will probably have to cancel all his engagements – at least until the weekend. The Labour Party’s leadership battle took a dramatic turn early yesterday when Mr Jagland collapsed and had to be taken by ambulance to the National Hospital, where he is still under observation. Yesterday evening Dr Svein Simonsen said that Mr Jagland was doing well and that he was being given the rest he needed. Dr Simonsen added that a decision would be made today about when Mr Jagland would be released from hospital.

Berntsen asks Stoltenberg to call off leadership race (Verdens Gang)

Labour veteran Thorbjørn Berntsen has asked Jens Stoltenberg to pull out of the party’s leadership race out of consideration for Thorbjørn Jagland’s health problems. Mr Berntsen underlined that Mr Stoltenberg is not to blame for Mr Jagland’s collapse, but he nevertheless believes the leadership dispute combined with media pressure and other demands have worn Mr Jagland out.

Keep Jagland’s illness out of the leadership battle (Dagsavisen)

Thorbjørn Jagland’s illness must not be used as a weapon in the party’s leadership battle, warn Labour MPs. The Labour chairman’s collapse yesterday morning came as a shock to the political community at the Storting. Reactions were cautious, and no one was willing to cite a specific reason for his illness. They are all first and foremost concerned that he should get well and return to work.

Labour wind blows Stoltenberg’s way (Dagens Næringsliv)

Within the Labour Party there is growing support for a united leadership with Jens Stoltenberg as party chairman. Internal calculations show that eight or nine branches want the party to be led by one person. The leadership debate within the Labour Party will continue at a series of branch AGMs over the next few months. The mood of these AGMs will be crucial for Jens Stoltenberg’s decision about whether or not to challenge Thorbjørn Jagland.

Aker/Kværner to keep all four construction yards (Aftenposten)

Kværner and Aker Maritime will keep all four of their yards in operation when the two companies’ oil and gas divisions merge. Incoming Kværner executive Sverre Skogen confirmed this in an interview with Aftenposten following a two-day conference on the merger, which ended yesterday. In 2002 the merged company alone will account for 40 per cent of Kværner’s revenues.

Unit trusts lost NOK 16 billion (Dagbladet)

Last year Norwegian investors lost around NOK 16 billion on unit trusts. For the first time ever more money was withdrawn from unit trusts than was invested in them. According to recent figures from the Norwegian Mutual Fund Association (VPF), unit trusts experienced negative net subscriptions for the first time in the association’s history. "But we actually took more money out of unit trusts in 2000. What was special last year was that purchases of new unit trust shares fell so much," said VPF chief executive Lasse Ruud.

Interest rate cut in doubt (Aftenposten)

Industry is going flat out, which reduces the chance of interest rates being cut in the week ahead. Svein Gjedrem, governor of the Norwegian Central Bank, places great emphasis on the outlook for the labour market when he fixes interest rates, and the country’s manufacturing companies have warned they face a battle to attract qualified staff. "We want some of the growth in employment to come our way. The public sector has no monopoly in that area," said Karl Nysterud, chief executive of the Federation of Norwegian Manufacturing Industries.

Bumper year for industry (Dagsavisen)

Two out of three manufacturing companies are forecasting better margins and higher profits, according to a recent report based on information provided by 700 companies, employing a total of 68,000 people. Last year’s terrorist attacks on the USA have therefore not put a dent in Norwegian export industry’s optimism, as some commentators had feared in the aftermath of September 11.

Creation of new oil giant not ruled out (Dagbladet)

Statoil’s chief executive, Olav Fjell, and his counterpart at Norsk Hydro, Eivind Reiten, are open-minded about a possible merger of the two businesses into a giant new oil company. When the issue was raised during a panel debate at the private oil industry seminar in Sandefjord yesterday, neither of the two mighty oil bosses ruled out a merger between Norsk Hydro and Statoil. Both this and other red-hot political questions are being discussed at the conference, which is closed to the press.

2 Worth Noting

1. 216 firearms were stolen last year, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Crime Investigation. This is almost half the number stolen in 1995. The weapons disappeared as a result of 90 separate thefts. (Dagsavisen)
2. The Ministry of Justice wants tighter control of the judges in the Supreme Court, Appeal Courts and District Courts. The justices’ ‘collateral activities’ are to be placed under stricter control and to some extent eliminated. (NTB)
3. Den norske Bank (DnB) and Nordea have notified the Norwegian Central Bank that they are interested in undertaking investment management activities on behalf of the Government Petroleum Fund. Today, the only Norwegian financial institutions which have been given investment management contracts by the Government Petroleum Fund are Storebrand and Gjensidige Nor. (Dagens Næringsliv)
4. Frederic Hauge, leader of the environmental foundation, Bellona, has said it would be better to give the residents of Finnmark County the same tax breaks as those applying on Svalbard, rather than develop the Snow White gas field in the Barents Sea. Chairman of the Finnmark County Council, Evy-Ann Midttun (Labour), is furious over the suggestion. (NTB/Nordlys)
5. No other Nordic country has as many sports fishermen as Norway. 53.2 per cent of the Norwegian population use a fishing rod at least 14 days a year, according to a survey of sports fishing which the ‘Nordic Working Group for Fisheries Research’ has carried out in Sweden. (Dagsavisen)

3 Today’s comment from Dagbladet

The battle for power in the Labour Party took a dramatic turn yesterday when party chairman Thorbjørn Jagland was admitted to the National Hospital after collapsing at the Storting. Information provided by the hospital indicates that Mr Jagland’s condition is not serious, but that the party chairman needs rest and calm. It is not hard to believe that Mr Jagland’s collapse is a reaction to the severe strain he has been under for some time, not least as a result of the ongoing leadership battle. However, Mr Jagland is known as a robust chap with a healthy lifestyle, and will hopefully be back to his old self in no time. Nevertheless, we must assume that this incident will help to cool the tempers of the warring factions in the days ahead. It is in no one’s interests for a political dispute to turn into a health hazard – nor does anyone want it to.