AFP early retirement scheme has created a new pension aristocracy (Aftenposten)

Eight out of ten people who have taken early retirement under the AFP scheme receive a salary in addition to their pension, according to a survey carried out by Statistics Norway. On average they have a combined income which is NOK 75,000 higher than other old-age pensioners. The AFP early retirement scheme, which was originally intended to ensure that those in hard physical jobs would be ensured a "dignified end to their working lives", has actually created a new aristocracy among welfare recipients in this country. And former public servants are strongly over-represented among those who have made use of the scheme.

Early retirement due to stress (Klassekampen)

Worker are taking early retirement because of the substantial psychological and physical stress they endure as a result of undermanning at work, according to the results of a survey carried out by Agder Research on behalf of the Labour and Government Administration Ministry. "It is in the healthcare sector in particular that the level of undermanning is perceived as a major problem," said project manager Torunn Olsen.

Absenteeism major drain on Foss’s resources (Verdens Gang)

Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss (Con) would have had NOK 4.5 billion more to spend next year if absenteeism due to illness had fallen at the rate specified in the agreement between employers and unions. "This is money we would have used to finance tax cuts for businesses, to increase investment in research and development and pay for employee retraining programmes," said Mr Foss. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) believes Mr Foss is trying to push responsibility for the upcoming budget cuts partly onto them. "A good sick pay scheme is more important for workers than tax cuts. He will simply have to find the money to fund the sick pay scheme, even if the national budget is difficult to balance," said Per Gunnar Olsen of the LO.

Minister considers baby premium (Dagsavisen)

Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, chairman of the Christian Democratic Party, is now thinking of giving extra pension points to women when they have children. She is worried that women could lose out when they become pensioners because they have had children. "The birth rate must be boosted, which is why we must not penalize women financially," she said, underlining that the gender equality perspective is important, too. "We will have to do our sums and come up with a price tag," she said. Today, working women receive three pension points when they are at home on maternity leave. This corresponds to an annual income of NOK 200,000, and means a loss of pension points for all those who earn more than that.

NOK 700 million in tax cuts (Aftenposten)

The Government is planning to cut taxes by NOK 700 million next year. The tax on residential property will be cut, and the high-income surtax will be reduced. At the same time spending ministers will have to cut a total of NOK 3 billion from next year’s budget to compensate for the drop in revenues. But the tax cuts will be smaller than Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss originally wanted. He wanted NOK 1 billion in tax cuts for ordinary people, but has been forced to lower his sights.

Drop tax cuts, protect the regions (Aftenposten)

Rumours that the budget will be extremely tight have reached the ears of the Christian Democratic Party’s branch chairmen, who are now calling for the party’s representatives in the Government to protect local councils and regions from any cuts. "People are unhappy with the Government’s regional policies, and then we have the Government’s policy on Israel, which is too pro-Palestinian. We have probably lost support in the polls because of that, too. Carl I. Hagen is clear both on Israel and on the fundamental Christian values. He seems to have taken over some of our values with his clarity. We have to get them back," said Torill Selsvold, leader of the Hordaland branch of the Christian Democratic Party.

Young Labour wants both candidates (Dagsavisen)

The Labour Party’s youth wing (AUF) wants to do away with the party’s women’s movement. Nevertheless, they now want the leader of the women’s movement, Karita Bekkemellem Orheim, to join the Labour leadership team. The reason for the AUF wanting two things which are so completely at odds with each other at the same time is fairly simple. "The most important thing for us is to get Trond Giske elected deputy leader. At our central committee meeting on Monday we will consider the women’s movement’s proposal to the effect that the women’s movement’s representative will have a permanent seat in the leadership," said AUF general secretary Hallvard Ingebrigtsen.

Concerns about Keiko’s health (Verdens Gang)

Animal welfare authorities are concerned about Keiko’s health and are now demanding that blood samples be taken from the world famous killer whale. "At the same time we feel there should be a total ban on boat traffic around Keiko, said Tore Brevik, chairman of the Animal Welfare Committee in Halsa. He does not hide the fact that he is concerned about Keiko’s health, and says that the Animal Welfare Act could be invoked in order to implement the necessary measures.

Worth Noting

• The successful return of Kosovo Albanian refugees to their homeland will make it easier to grant temporary residence permits to other refugees in the future," said Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg (Con). A recent report shows that 71 per cent of those Kosovo Albanians who were granted temporary residence in Norway in 1999 have returned home. Only 12 per cent of the Bosnians who arrived here under similar circumstances in 1993-1995 have done the same.
  (Aftenposten)
• Statistics Norway’s Svein Longva is forecasting increased unemployment and lower interest rates. Mr Longva’s views on the Norwegian economy are therefore the exact opposite of Norwegian Central Bank Governor Svein Gjedrem’s.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Unemployment continues to rise, but many professions are calling out for more workers. Young people have become more choosy, and steer clear of low-status occupations, according to the Directorate of Labour.
  (Dagsavisen)
• In just one year unemployment has risen by 23 per cent. But the commercial and service industries are not benefiting from the increase in unemployment. Topping the list of professions Norwegians avoid like the plague is that of shop worker.
  (Vårt Land)
• Oslo’s local education authority has now begun to publish results intended to show the quality of the city’s individual schools. The LEA has published a report comparing the reading skills of pupils at 93 of the city’s primary and lower secondary schools. Vindern School has the best reading skills, while Møllergata School comes in last place.
  (Klassekampen)
• The budget airline Norwegian says that it has raised NOK 115 million in fresh investment capital, and NOK 35 million in the form of three new aircraft. "We never said we wanted more than NOK 115 million in cash, because we believe that is sufficient," said Norwegian’s chairman, Bjørn Kjos.
  (Aftenposten)
• Foreign investors are selling Norwegian shares, which is making the slump on the Oslo Stock Exchange even more severe, according to Oslo-based stock brokers. Foreigners have never owned as large a share of the Oslo Stock Exchange’s market value as they did this summer.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Stein Erik Hagen and the other supermarket owners have walked off with NOK 2 billion of the savings intended for consumers after VAT on food products was cut by 50 per cent, according to a survey carried out by the Institute of Industrial Economics.
  (Dagsavisen)
• Almost 40 per cent of all Norwegians have been to a homeopathist. One in four patients is a child under the age of 10. One of the reasons is that patients feel they are treated better than at the doctor’s.
  (Aftenposten)
• "The status of the king is a legal curiosity, without significance. The Norwegian constitution is worded in such a way that the reigning monarch would never be held responsible for the actions of the Government or the Storting," said Øystein Djupedal, deputy leader of the Socialist Left Party.
  (Klassekampen)
• The introduction of self service at outlets of the state-owned wine and spirits retail monopoly, Vinmonopolet, has led to an increase in sales of alcoholic beverages – and to very satisfied customers, according to a recent report by the Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research (SIRUS). 55 of the country’s 163 Vinmonopolet outlets are today self-service.
  (Aftenposten)
• Yesterday the passenger boat, Grip-skyss, started taking customers on safari tours to see the celebrity killer whale, Keiko. The first safari passengers were 68 nursery school children, and tomorrow anyone can take the trip. Petter Gullestad, head of the Fisheries Directorate, is not very happy about the initiative.
  (Dagsavisen)

Today’s comment from Aftenposten

It is only right and proper that the Immigration Directorate (UDI) should demand that Kosovo Albanians pay back the financial assistance they at one time received from state to help them return to Kosovo. Though it is worth noting that this applies only to that group which, in violation of the conditions of the grants, have come back to Norway. Individuals and families may very well have reasons for leaving Kosovo again which are worthy of respect. It may well be that their situation was so difficult that they could not expect to have a normal existence in their homeland, in which their basic human rights were safeguarded. That is something which must be determined in each individual case, though in general Albanians as a group no longer need protection in Kosovo. But putting the money in one’s own pocket and then returning to Norway without wanting to settle one’s debts is not particularly worthy of respect. The UDI has now sent out a clear signal that Norway cannot and will not act like a naïve, rich uncle that is neither capable of making demands of the people it helps, nor is prepared to follow up those demands. But we need to ask if this signal has come soon enough, and was clear enough when the money was first paid out. A research report indicates that one in four Kosovo Albanians who received financial assistance from the state had already planned to return to Norway before they left. They must have accepted the money knowing they were not entitled to it, or cannot have understood what conditions were attached to it. If the latter is the case the Norwegian authorities did not do a good enough job. This error is now being corrected. And those who accepted money under false pretences must now also settle their accounts.