Stoltenberg slams door on Giske (Aftenposten/Saturday)

Jens Stoltenberg put his foot down yesterday to more or less block Trond Giske’s attempt to win the Labour Party’s vacant deputy leader slot. Bolstered by unambiguous signals about the necessity of sticking to the party’s rules on gender quotas, Mr Stoltenberg said what he thought about the deputy leadership issue for the first time. "I believe very strongly that gender equality considerations must be taken into account both in elections to the central committee and the leadership team." Trond Giske was cautious in his comments on the latest developments in the battle for the deputy leadership. "My name has been put forward by the South Trøndelag branch, and it cannot be up to us, the candidates, to have strong views on gender equality or other considerations. That is a matter for the selection committee and the party organization to decide," said Mr Giske.

Valla wants Giske on board (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

Yesterday Jens Stoltenberg to all intents and purposes killed off Trond Giske’s chances of being elected deputy leader of the Labour Party. But from what Dagsavisen is given to understand, the party’s selection committee will not support a scheme which provokes the Giske faction. Gerd-Liv Valla, who chairs the selection committee, is keen to put together a leadership team which can unite the party. She wants Trond Giske on board. This could mean that Mr Giske himself joins the leadership, or that the selection committee finds another solution which Mr Giske’s supporters can accept.

Politicians must be able to take a beating (Nationen/Saturday)

Labour chairman Thorbjørn Jagland claims he was the victim of the party’s unhealthy organizational culture. However, experts in psychology and social medicine deny that there is widespread bullying in Norwegian politics. "The whiff of gun smoke we have witnessed in recent times should be seen as a healthy sign. People should be able to cope with that much at least," said Per Fugelli, professor of social medicine. He believes politicians have to like fighting and be able to take a beating.

Stoltenberg admits trouble with Jagland (Dagbladet/Sunday)

After a lengthy period of turbulence, Jens Stoltenberg admitted yesterday that he and Thorbjørn Jagland have had problems working together. "Thorbjørn Jagland and I have worked well together for many years, but everyone has doubtless seen that we have not managed to make it work as well as we should lately," said Mr Stoltenberg, who denied that it was a relief not to have to work so closely with Mr Jagland any more. According to Mr Stoltenberg conflict between individuals has always been part of Norwegian politics.

Gro Harlem Brundtland says Labour not dominated by old men (Dagsavisen)

"If young women today still feel they cannot make it in the Labour Party, it seems almost as though it is because they do not dare to make people sit up and take notice," said Gro Harlem Brundtland. She denies that the Labour Party is dominated by old men and says it is "a little strange" if Labour women feel that way in 2002. Sylvia Brustad, who is a candidate for the vacant deputy leader slot, agrees with Ms Brundtland that the days when the Labour Party was dominated by elderly men have largely come to an end. "Nowadays, we have come a long, long way when it comes to equality between the sexes," she said.

Stoltenberg wants to keep door open for EU membership (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

The leader of the Labour Party’s parliamentary group, Jens Stoltenberg, wants to keep the door open for EU membership in the next parliamentary term, even if this could cause problems for a left-wing alliance. If that were to happen Mr Stoltenberg envisages the Labour Party continuing in office as a minority government. The Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party will only be able to tie the Labour Party to a rejection of EU membership while in office. "I would not mind a manifest in which we have freedom of movement in relation to EU membership," said Mr Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg in a bind (Dagens Næringsliv)

Disastrously low support for the Centre Party is threatening Jens Stoltenberg’s dream of leading a majority government. Support for the Centre Party is now so low that the party is in danger of disappearing from the Storting altogether. "This is hard, I won’t deny it," said Centre Party leader Odd Roger Enoksen. If the Christian Democrats joined the Socialist Left Party and the Labour Party, Mr Stoltenberg would be able to put together a majority government without the Centre Party. The problem for Mr Stoltenberg is that the Christian Democrats already have coalition partners. "As it looks now, an alliance with the Christian Democrats is unrealistic," said political scientist Bernt Aardal.

Employees attempt to save production of Think cars (Aftenposten/Saturday)

Ford has decided to abandon the Norwegian electric car, Think. Ford believes people will not buy the car because it is too expensive and its battery is not strong enough. Unless someone else takes over, Think is dead. Think Nordic’s management and employees are disappointed by Ford’s decision, but are not planning to give up so easily. "We will find a new investor," said union representative Christian Bech.

Public confidence in SAS and NSB paper thin (Aftenposten/Sunday)

SAS has lost the confidence of the Norwegian people. A substantial 43 per cent of those questioned in a poll by MMI said they have a negative impression of the airline. Since last year the proportion of Norwegians who do not think much of SAS has increased by 25 percentage points. MMI’s Erik Dalen describes this development as "dramatic". Right at the top of the list of companies in which we have no confidence is NSB. 53 per cent have a bad impression of the state-owned railway company, but that is an improvement on previous polls. In addition to SAS, Kværner is the company which has experienced the biggest slump in confidence, while Kjell Inge Røkke’s Aker RGI just keeps getting more and more popular.

NHO miss the mark on executive pay (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)

The Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) claims that 98.5 per cent of executives have received pay rises in line with ordinary workers. But official statistics show that all management groups have received more than wage-earners in recent years. Some have received much more. Stein Reegård, chief economist at the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), says the figures show that the NHO is trying to underplay the size of executive pay rises. "The statistics show that managers at all levels have been given bigger salary increases that other groups. But the NHO has always tried to make the size of the gap seem insignificant," said Mr Reegård.

1. Worth Noting

• Thorbjørn Jagland must have felt the need to re-establish a personal feeling of fairness, but has only succeeded in weakening the Labour Party as a brand name and destroying his own opportunities, according to organizational psychologist Trond Kjærstad.
  (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• Former Labour leader Gro Harlem Brundtland has denied that she was forced to step down as party leader in 1992, rebutting Thorbjørn Jagland’s version of how the so-called Labour ‘monster’ was born.
  (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• An exhausted Thorbjørn Jagland is sticking to his claim that strong pressure from the party contributed to Gro Harlem Brundtland’s decision to step down as party leader. Mr Jagland says he has absolutely no regrets about the comments he made in a recent television interview, which have brought the Labour Party to boiling point in the past few days.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• Rwandan authorities have received tip-offs from a number of sources indicating that men sought in connection with cases of genocide in that country are living in Norway under false identities. Rwanda’s Justice Minister and Attorney General have now asked the Norwegian authorities for help to find the killers. The genocide in Rwanda cost the lives of almost a million people.
  (Aftenposten)
• Mullah Krekar’s mother has agreed to return home to northern Iraq through the auspices of the international organization, IOM. At the same time it seems more and more likely that while Mullah Krekar himself will lose both his refugee status and residence permit, his wife and four children will be allowed to remain in Norway. They are Norwegian citizens.
  (Verdens Gang/Sunday)
• All those charged in connection with last week’s child pornography swoop have a duty to inform their employers of the contents of the charges. If they do not they can expect to be given the sack.
  (Aftenposten)
• Job seekers could risk having their personal credit details checked by their potential employer before they are offered a job. The Data Inspectorate feels the practice is extremely dubious.
  (Vårt Land/Saturday)
• Olav Nils Sunde, founder of the now defunct Color Air, believes that Norwegian Air Shuttle has a far better chance of survival than his own cut-price airline because bonus points on domestic flights have now been banned.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Hollywood star Keiko, who played the lead in the box office hit, Free Willy, has decided to visit Norway. The enormous killer whale is now free to swim where it wants to. Yesterday children in Halsa, Nordmøre County, were able to join him in the water to give him a pat and a hug.
  (Dagsavisen)

2. Today’s comment from Nationen

The Labour Party’s national executive committee meeting saw Thorbjørn Jagland make a sorry exit, while Jens Stoltenberg emerged as the party’s unifying force and saviour. Mr Stoltenberg has in practice been given a free hand, no one will dare to baulk or make trouble for him now. The national executive did not intervene in the deputy leadership debate, which was probably a wise move. It is difficult to explain to the party’s grassroots why it is so dreadful for Labour to conduct an open debate on who should be elected deputy leader. Not only that, but a tricky question was forced front and centre when the threats of gender quotas and other ploys which would in reality have barred Trond Giske as a candidate started flying. For in contrast to his opponents, Trond Giske has based his campaign on policy issues and he has – rightly or wrongly – become a symbol for what could, if we were feeling generous, be described as the Labour Party’s left wing. The use of gender quotas against Mr Giske threatened to beg the question: who represents this left wing if Mr Giske is forced out of the race now? Should the left wing accept being barred from the competition because it is not represented by a woman? No, Trond Giske has probably already gained such a position that he will be in the running right up until the vote at the party’s annual conference. This election is not just about the balance between the sexes, but also about the balance between the various shades of political opinion in the Labour Party’s top leadership.