Minute economic benefit from EEA (Nationen)

The economic benefit Norway has derived from the EEA Agreement amounts to a microscopic 0.77 per cent, or just over NOK 10 billion, according to an analysis that Statistics Norway has carried out for the Foreign Ministry. This figure is no larger than the amount by which Norway’s GDP will rise in the course of three months this year. When the EEA Agreement was signed, the argument was that it would bring enormous economic advantages. Now the EU’s gas directive could wipe out the entire benefit.

Stoltenberg starts Labour revamp (Aftenposten)

Yesterday Jens Stoltenberg chaired his first meeting as leader of the Labour Party’s Dialogue Forum. He used the opportunity to present his vision and the measures he plans to implement to return Labour to its former strength. For outsiders the Dialogue Forum looks like a bizarre leftover from last winter’s power struggle. It was the platform Labour leader Thorbjørn Jagland was to have called his own. However, in an interview with Aftenposten, Mr Stoltenberg described the visionary purpose of the Dialogue Forum: "The focus of the Programme Committee is very nitty-gritty and down to earth, but here we are attempting to look skywards and create a vision of the next major tasks which Social Democracy should concern itself with. Part of Labour’s strength has been our ability to combine vision with reality," he said.

Jagland: EU membership must not drown in party politicking (NTB)

"Norway’s relations with the EU cannot be allowed to drown in or be subservient to simple tactical considerations," writes Labour leader Thorbjørn Jagland in his latest J@aglandbrev. "If we fail to respond to the fundamental historical processes which are now taking place outside our front door because we are playing a ‘who is going to share power with whom’ game, Norwegian politics will become an endless round of party politicking. Many people would say we have enough of that kind of thing already," writes Mr Jagland.

Røkke plans to sell to himself (Dagens Næringsliv)

Kværner is thinking of selling real estate worth billions of kroner to the property management company, Avantor, in which Kjell Inge Røkke has a controlling interest. Kværner would then lease the property back again. Mr Røkke is on the boards of both companies. The objective of the move is to release capital and improve Kværner’s liquidity position. The proposal is due to be discussed by Kværner’s board of directors today. The deal could revive the animosity between Mr Røkke and Tore Lindholt, chief executive of the National Insurance Scheme Fund.

Environment Minister fears Johannesburg fiasco (Dagens Næringsliv)

Environment Minister Børge Brende is afraid that the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which starts in Johannesburg on Monday, could end as a fiasco. Accompanying Mr Brende to Johannesburg will be a delegation of 41 politicians, officials and diplomats. Mr Brende is worried that the Summit could end without any improvements on the environment or development front. "The worst thing is that the entire concept of multilateral cooperation could be undermined. There are already lots of people who are not particularly interested in achieving global and binding agreement on environmental and development issues. But deep down I believe we will manage to negotiate commitments which will point the way forward," he said.

Suspicion that shipyard bankruptcy was planned (Aftenposten)

Only 38 days after taking control of the Mjellem & Karlsen shipyard in Bergen, property developer Carl Fredrik Seim decided to put the company into liquidation. 411 people have lost their jobs. Employees believe that what Mr Seim has really had his eye on is the seafront real estate on which the shipyard stands. They believe he wants to use it for housing development. The parent company Mjellem og Karlsen AS would like to take over construction work on the Norwegian naval frigates, which the shipyard has subcontracted from the Spanish company, Izar.

Aker could snap up Mjellem contract (Dagens Næringsliv)

Aker Langsten or Aker Stord, both owned by Kjell Inge Røkke, could walk off with Mjellem & Karlsen Verft’s lucrative frigate contract, worth NOK 1.2 billion, after the shipyard went into liquidation yesterday. The shipyard’s whistle had blown for the last time when Mjellem & Karlsen’s management sat down to a hastily called press conference yesterday afternoon. Stunned employees had just learned that they no longer had a job to go to, despite the assurances of Carl Fredrik Seim (28), who took control of the shipyard and property group, HMS Holding Bergen, in March this year. At that time he emphasized that the shipyard would continue operating as before.

Late payers good business for State Educational Loan Fund (Dagsavisen)

Almost 60,000 customers of the State Educational Loan Fund can shortly expect to find a payment reminder in their mailboxes. Reminders of this kind are good business for the state. The Fund charges late paying customers a whopping NOK 260 for each reminder, a sum which comes on top of the administration charge it has already made for sending out the original demand. The fees from these customers alone amount to NOK 17.7 million.

Worth Noting

• Last year 159 officers were accused by the public of police brutality. But in not one of the cases did the Special Police Investigation Commission (SEFO) see fit to bring charges. Police officers were reported for excessive use of force on average every 2-3 days last year, according to the annual report on SEFO cases which the Director General of Public Prosecutions, Tor-Aksel Busch, has sent to the Ministry of Justice.
  (Dagbladet)
• Microsoft Norge has announced considerable price rises for local and central government customers after Labour and Government Administration Minister Victor D. Norman cancelled the state’s framework agreement with the software giant.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Norwegian business and industry are developing a paperless relationship with the state. 65,000 companies and self-employed people filed their tax returns electronically this year, and 1,400 sent in their year-end accounts by e-mail.
  (Nationen)
• Weather records are being broken practically all over the country this summer – and in Trøndelag County there are not many records left to beat. Yesterday the temperature in Ørland in South Trøndelag was recorded at 31.8 ⁰>C, the highest August temperature this year.
  (Dagbladet)

Today’s comment from Verdens Gang

Israel’s Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, arrives in Norway today for official talks with Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and Foreign Minister Jan Petersen, among others. Both Mr Peres, who counts himself an old friend of Norway, and his hosts should have plenty to talk about. Not least because Mr Peres, in an interview with Aftenposten, says that he cannot understand Norway’s criticism of Israel or why many Norwegians have so obviously become far more critical of the state of Israel and its current government. Mr Peres’s observation is correct. The attitude of Norwegians and the Norwegian authorities’ view of the bloody conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has shifted dramatically, as it has in many other European countries. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has himself done much to fuel speculation that the government under his leadership is not really interested in arriving at a solution with the Palestinians which involves the creation of a separate Palestinian state. Repeated occupation and reoccupation of Palestinian areas does not contribute to a political solution of any kind. Neither do Palestinian terrorist attacks in the form of suicide bombings. Foreign Minister Peres has therefore repeated his demand that the Palestinians must give Israel security and bring an end to the terrorism. But Mr Peres’s argument does not add up, a fact which will be drawn to his attention during his stay in Norway. His Norwegian hosts should also call for more of the innovative thinking and, not least, political courage which previously gave Mr Peres the Nobel Peace Prize. Both qualities are sorely needed in today’s Middle East.