PM backed by half the country (Nationen/Saturday)

Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik can afford to relax despite the current debate about possible alternative governments. Half the voters prefer today’s government if the alternative is one in which the Labour Party plays the lead role. According to a recent poll which Sentio-Norsk Statistikk has carried out on behalf of Nationen, only three out of ten voters want a red-green alliance led by Jens Stoltenberg.

Jens backs down after ten years (Dagbladet/Saturday)

Ten years ago Rune Gerhardsen was the victim of what was to all intents and purposes a ‘political execution’ carried out by the powers that be in the Labour Party. Mr Gerhardsen’s crime was to have spoken out in favour of closer cooperation with the Socialist Left Party. At that time Jens Stoltenberg, who was leader of the party’s Oslo branch, threatened to throw Mr Gerhardsen out of City Hall. Now almost everything has been turned upside down, and Jens Stoltenberg has gone farther in his overtures to the Socialist Left Party than Mr Gerhardsen ever did ten years ago. Mr Stoltenberg is paving the way for a majority government, which could involve sharing power with the Socialist Left Party. And in an ironic twist of fate, all this is happening at a time when Mr Gerhardsen’s name has been forwarded as the Oslo Labour Party’s candidate for Mayor or Chairman of the Municipal Executive Board at the next local elections.

Petersen sure of Christian Democrats (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

Conservative Party chairman Jan Petersen is refusing to water down the Government’s promise of tax cuts to appease Christian Democrat critics. He takes it as read that the Christian Democrats will not turn their backs on the Conservative Party at the 2005 general election. "It will feel more and more natural. The Government will publish a new long-range programme in the spring of 2005 and that will form the basis for a number of jointly held opinions," said Mr Petersen in an interview with the news agency, ANB. He said that today’s coalition government is "working very well", in particular thanks to the leadership of Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik.

Leading Christian Democrats want collaboration with Stoltenberg (Nationen)

A clear majority of Christian Democrat branch chairmen are in favour of the party’s participation in a governing coalition with the Labour Party. Only five out of the party’s 19 branch chairmen would completely rule out such an idea. An opinion poll published in Saturday’s Nationen showed that half the electorate prefers the current government to one made up of the Christian Democratic Party, the Labour Party and the Centre Party. However, 34 per cent of Christian Democratic Party voters would like a coalition which included the Labour Party. "On the whole, the current government’s policies are too right-wing, and the situation is not made any better by the fact that the Government is relying on Carl I. Hagen’s support to keep it afloat," said Torill Selsvold Nyborg of the Christian Democratic Party’s Hordaland branch.

EU-membership supporters put issue on ice (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

Both the Conservatives and the Labour Party are willing to sacrifice EU membership to win government office. A renewal of the debate on EU membership has therefore been postponed until 2009. Foreign Minister Jan Petersen (Con) says that he does not object to EU membership being a non-issue until 2009. In order to maintain the public’s belief that the collaboration between the governing coalition partners will survive the next general election, Mr Petersen, a dyed-in-the-wool supporter of EU membership and leader of the pro-EU Conservative Party, has decided to put the issue on ice. At the same time Jens Stoltenberg, another EU-membership supporter, admits that the issue would get in the way of his ambitious scheme to create a left-wing coalition. The Centre Party has already said that discussion of EU membership must be dropped if it is to lend its support to Mr Stoltenberg’s coalition.

Foreign aid to be offered as inducement to take back rejected asylum seekers (Dagsavisen/Sunday)

Asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected cost the country NOK 300 million. The Government is now considering whether to use foreign aid allocations as an inducement to get developing countries to take back these individuals. The Labour Party and the Socialist Left Party have criticized the proposal. Kristin Ørmen Johnsen, State Secretary at the Local Government and Regional Affairs Ministry, says that foreign aid might be offered to poor developing countries in return for their acceptance of asylum seekers whose applications have been turned down by Norway. "It would be an effective measure. We would be bringing our policy on this issue into line with that of a number of EU countries," she said.

No change in foreign aid policy (Dagsavisen)

The Government wants the return of asylum seekers to be linked to foreign aid negotiations. But Norway’s overall foreign aid policy will not be altered. Kristin Ørmen Johnsen, State Secretary at the Local Government and Regional Affairs Ministry, said in yesterday’s Dagsavisen that she wanted to discuss whether foreign aid allocations could be used as a tool to get asylum seekers rejected by Norway sent home. Mr Ørmen Johnsen feels that linkage with foreign aid could play a role with regard to those countries which do not accept the return of their own citizens. The Government has now stated publicly that the proposal will not lead to any change in Norway’s overall foreign aid policy.

Minister under fire over expulsion proposals (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

While the Progress Party applauds Erna Solberg’s proposal to deport foreigners who are suspected of having committed a criminal offence, the Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister has come under heavy fire from her political opponents. In a proposed amendment to the Immigration Act, Ms Solberg wants foreigners who are suspected of having committed serious criminal offences to be deported from Norway – before they have been found guilty by a court of law. The Justice Ministry denies that the entire government supports Ms Solberg’s proposal. "This is a proposal from the Local Government and Regional Affairs Ministry which has not been discussed in cabinet. We at the Ministry of Justice also see that there are objections to such a proposal, but we will await the results of the consultative process," said State Secretary Jørn Holme (Lib).

Løddesøl rebuked (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)

Anne Kathrine Slungård, chairman of Statoil’s Corporate Assembly, has rebuked company chairman Leif Terje Løddesøl. Ms Slungård was reacting to Mr Løddesøl’s recent comments, in which he spoke out in favour of a possible merger between Statoil and Norsk Hydro’s oil and gas business. She does not appreciate Mr Løddesøl thinking aloud in such a way before the board has discussed the matter. "To my mind evaluations which have major strategic significance are not something one simply blurts out. Statoil is too important an institution to be thinking aloud in the media," said Ms Slungård. Norsk Hydro’s chief executive, Eivind Reiten, has not been tempted by Mr Løddesøl’s merger invitation. "This is not on our agenda, and is not a solution we feel would be in our investors’ best interests," said Mr Reiten.

Public Service Pension Fund could be privatized (Aftenposten/Saturday)

No public institution or agency is exempt from the Government’s efforts to modernize the public sector. The Government’s Conservative ministers are planning to announce a number of controversial proposals regarding competitive tendering. The Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund’s monopoly could be swept away and competitors allowed a bite of the profitable pension market. The Norwegian Mapping Authority, the Norwegian National Coastal Administration, the Register of Leisure Craft and several of the tasks currently under the aegis of the Directorate of Labour could be opened up to privately owned service providers. The Government consistently uses the term ‘competitive tendering’ and not privatization to describe its politically controversial plans. Labour and Government Administration Minister Victor D. Norman says that appropriateness and not ideology drives the Government’s efforts to improve the public sector.

Bankruptcy lawyers making a mint (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)

Bankruptcy lawyers in Oslo are being flooded with work. The Bankruptcy Court has handed out over 800 receiverships during the first 200 days of the year. During the first six months of the year 2,174 companies went into liquidation, a figure not seen since the first half of 1993. The number of companies going into liquidation in Oslo rose by 40 per cent compared with the same period last year. This means losses for both shareholders and creditors. But for the bankruptcy lawyers it represents a financial bonanza.

Worth Noting

• Petroleum and Energy Minister Einar Steensnæs (Chr.Dem) does not like the fact that Statoil’s chairman has been airing his thoughts on a possible merger between Statoil and Norsk Hydro. But there is increasing support for the creation of a giant Norwegian oil company within Mr Steensnæs’s own party.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• The Government is proposing to put both private and state-owned hospitals on an equal footing when patients come to decide where to be treated. There is a parliamentary majority behind such a scheme. The patient’s right to choose was introduced on 1 January 2001, but at that time it only applied to the public health service. This is something the Government now wants to change.
  (Klassekampen)
• According to District Court Judge Arild Kjerschow, Norway’s judicial system is white. The legal rights of immigrants are less well safeguarded than those of ethnic Norwegians. The courts have not been sufficiently aware of the situation. Only two per cent of lay judges in the Oslo District Court are immigrants. It will take ten years before Norway has a non-white judge.
  (Aftenposten/Sunday)
• The Norwegian Postal Administration’s monopoly could be abolished before the end of the year. The post will continue to be delivered, but not necessarily by today’s postman. The Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority wants a change in the legislation in order to stay ahead of EU demands for a gradual liberalization of competition in the postal sector. The Norwegian Postal Administration could lose its monopoly both on the printing of stamps and the distribution of letters and parcels. This could lead to higher postal charges for rural customers. Several major foreign players are already waiting to compete for a slice of the billions to be made from these services.
  (Aftenposten)
• The Finns are keen to participate in the development of the Snow White gas field in northern Norway. A new Finpro Skandinavia office will open today in Hammerfest. The Finnish business advisory service office – Finland’s 50 ^th> such – will be officially opened by Finland’s Foreign Trade Minister Jarl Pekka Vilen and Norway’s Fisheries Minister Svein Ludvigsen.
  (Aftenposten)
• Almost half of all 14-year-old girls are on a diet. The same girls continue dieting for years. Only one in three dieters is overweight, according to a recent survey.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• Kristen Nygaard, who masterminded the anti-EU membership campaign, has died aged 75. "Kristen Nygård was the glue that held No to the EU together. He taught us to show respect for diversity," said Anne Enger Lahnstein. The strategist behind No to the EU died late on Friday night.
  (Klassekampen)

Today’s comment from Verdens Gang

The Progress Party’s Siv Jensen, who chairs the Storting’s Finance Committee, has sounded the call to arms and is threatening to go to war over taxes this autumn when the Storting starts discussing next year’s national budget. If the Government’s promised tax cuts turn out to be nothing more than crumbs the Progress Party’s reason for supporting the Bondevik government will no longer exist, she claims. Ms Jensen’s anger has been provoked by Einar Steensnæs, deputy leader of the Christian Democratic Party and Petroleum and Energy Minister. In last Thursday’s VG Mr Steensnæs declared categorically that the public will not be seeing any sizeable tax cuts when the Government publishes its budget proposal this autumn. Mr Steensnæs’s comments are in stark contrast to those of Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss, who told TV2 that using revenues from Norway’s oil resources to finance tax cuts would be better for the economy than using them in the public sector. We can well understand that Ms Jensen should use the disagreement between the two cabinet colleagues to sharpen her own political scalpel. The difference of opinion comes as quite a surprise, and reveals that cohesion within the Government over the issue of taxes is not particularly strong. That the Bondevik government’s internal differences over one of its most highly profiled promises should have been so publicly highlighted, creates doubts about what its promises are really worth. It amazes us that two of the Government’s political heavyweights have not managed to communicate in private so that public disagreement on this issue could have been avoided.