Bondevik warns of unpleasant cuts (Aftenposten/Saturday)

At yesterday’s central committee meeting of the Christian Democratic Party, the party leadership was forced to spend a lot of time defending the Christian Democrats’ participation in the current coalition government. After the meeting Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik had one key message. The budget will be tight. The budget will be tight. The budget will be tight. This is necessary to "prevent interest rates rising further" and to "save as many jobs as possible". After three budget conferences, the Finance Minister’s exhortations about "the need for a tight budget" has become a standard phrase for all coalition members.

Investors take off with NAS (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)

Yesterday Norwegian Air Shuttle got a number of enthusiastic and highly competent new owners. At the top of the list of enthusiasts is undoubtedly the Choice Hotels chain, with Petter A. Stordalen at the helm, which has invested NOK 10 million in the airline. NAS’s NOK 115 million share issue is now fully subscribed, pricing the airline at NOK 240 million. Erik G. Braathen, who has parted company with his brother Per G., has also invested NOK 10 million in NAS. Bjørn Kjos, Norwegian Air Shuttle’s founder and chairman, is more than satisfied to have successfully completed the share issue in today’s market.

NORAD sharply critical of Fjørtoft (Nationen/Saturday)

Arne Fjørtoft, secretary general of World-View International Foundation, has been sharply criticized in a report commissioned by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) for mixing foreign aid and business. In addition to being secretary general of World-View International Foundation, Mr Fjørtoft is head of subsidiaries which sell services to WIF. "It is clearly an unfortunate conflict of interests," concludes the report. Despite the fact that NORAD agreed with the criticism, WIF received an additional NOK 30 million before funding was cut off this spring.

Foss swallows bitter OECD pill (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

The OECD’s report on the Norwegian economy does not make pleasant reading. Ordinary people will be hit hard if the politicians follow the OECD’s recommendations. The organization, which every 18 months publishes its analysis of the state of every member country’s economic health, is not particularly impressed by how we Norwegians are using our oil wealth. An over-inflated public sector, too low retirement age, too high wage levels and high rates of absenteeism in the workplace are factors which the OECD economists are not happy about. The report goes right to the heart of the political debate in Norway because the OECD’s experts are highly critical of the efforts so far made by the Pensions Commission under the leadership of former Finance Minister Sigbjørn Johnsen.

Top level talks on renewed wage moderation (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)

Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik is working to achieve a new agreement between unions, employers and the Government on wage moderation. This summer he has had talks with Gerd-Liv Valla, president of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and Finn Bergesen Jr, chief executive of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO). But a planned joint statement from Ms Valla and Mr Bergesen has now been called off. One of the most important meetings in Norwegian business this year will take place on Monday. The PM will play host to Ms Valla, Mr Bergesen and other leaders from both unions and employers’ organizations. Together with Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss and Labour and Government Administration Minister Victor Norman, they will discuss how to secure a return to wage moderation.

Call for young people to be forced out to work (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

More than 16,000 young people now receive unemployment and rehabilitation benefits. At the same time over 6,000 jobs are vacant. The Conservative Party and the Progress Party now want to force young people out to work. "As it is today the unemployment benefit system is not working. Young people must be forced out to work," said Per Sandberg (Progress Party). The Conservatives’ Peter Gitmark says that young people are too "choosy". Recruitment to a number of occupations is low, and the Labour Directorate says that young people in particular are reluctant to accept unskilled work. Conservative and Progress Party politicians now want to change this situation.

Labour is Bondevik’s plan B (Verdens Gang/Sunday)

A month before next year’s national budget is due to be announced Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik is already asking the Labour Party to show a willingness to cooperate and take responsibility. This is despite the fact that from the moment it came into office last year the Government has said it will turn to the Progress Party to provide the parliamentary majority it needs to push its budget through. However, Mr Bondevik is afraid that the Progress Party’s attitude to the rules governing the use of the country’s oil revenues could make it impossible to cooperate with Carl I. Hagen and his party. "Since the Labour Party’s deputy leader, Hill-Marta Solberg, made a surprise announcement last week that Labour is not ready to form a government this autumn, I expect the Labour Party will play a constructive role in the Storting during the budget process," said Mr Bondevik to VG.

Call for tax cuts for regional voters (Nationen)

The Centre Party is proposing that 460,000 people living in regional areas receive a three per cent tax cut. In addition the party wants several thousand kroner in tax cuts for low-paid workers. The tax reform would cost a total of NOK 8.4 billion. The cuts are to be funded by reintroducing dividend tax and raising the basic income tax rate from 28 per cent to 30 per cent.

Oil companies face huge fines (Verdens Gang)

Statoil and Norsk Hydro risk being fined a total of NOK 296 million for illegal price cooperation and operating as a cartel in Sweden. Five oil companies are facing demands from the Swedish authorities for a total of NOK 715 million in penalties for anti-trust infringements. According to the Swedish Competition Authority, the five companies jointly decided to change the discount rules for various customer groups in order to increase their own profitability.

Minister calls for more forced treatment of drug addicts (Dagbladet)

Social Affairs Minister Ingjerd Schou has said she is willing to allow greater use of force in the treatment of drug addicts. "The Norwegian drug treatment sector could be considerably better. The Storting has on a number of occasions demanded greater use of non-consensual treatment," said Ms Schou. Last year 44 people were forced to undergo treatment for drug abuse without their consent under Section 6-2 of the Social Services Act.

Norway lagging behind on privatization (Dagsavisen)

Norwegian local authorities have put far fewer services out to tender than their Swedish or Danish counterparts. Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg has rebuked local politicians for being slow on the uptake. "Many local authorities could have several million kroner extra to spend on good causes if they had made use of the opportunities inherent in putting services out to tender. Instead, the reorganization of local government services is moving ahead at a snail’s pace. It is very disappointing," said Ms Solberg.

Norsk Hydro delayed by Iraq war (Aftenposten)

Norsk Hydro has invested billions to become an oil and gas operator in Iran. According to plan, the company is due to start test drilling near the border with Iraq in the new year. Observers believe that if the USA attacks Saddam Hussein the project could be postponed. More than 30 Norwegian oil-related companies are working to get a foothold in the Iranian market.

1. Worth Noting

• During the first six months of the year 50 fewer organs were donated for transplantation than in the same period last year. More and more people are saying that they do not want their organs used for transplantation in the event of their deaths. The number of next of kin who refuse to let their deceased relatives’ organs be used for transplants has increased from 25 per cent in 1994 to almost 40 per cent in 2001.
  (NTB)
• Norway’s largest high-street bank, Den norske Bank (DnB), was not good enough for the local Syrian bank. When DnB tried to issue a guarantee for USD 30,000 for Dark Arkitekter, it was rejected by the Middle Eastern bank.
  (Aftenposten)
• SAS has taken over far fewer of the surplus Braathens employees than it had envisaged. The final figures show that 1,020 employees have chosen to accept the offer of a severance package worth between three and 15 months’ salary. This is well over twice as many as Braathens had expected when it made its severance package offer, which was intended to prevent the necessity of redundancies. This could mean that Braathens will have to fork out more than the approx. NOK 200 million which was set aside for this purpose.
  (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)
• The strong Norwegian currency has not led to a drop in the price of wines and spirits. Only 13 per cent of these products have fallen in price – and then often by only a few øre. Importers have been vociferously demanding cuts in government taxes on wines and spirits, and have been complaining about Norwegians crossing the border into Sweden to buy their drink, but when favourable exchange rates drive the import price, and consequently the sales price, down, they respond by putting their prices up or keeping them unchanged.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• Half of Norway is now opposed to Washington’s foreign policy, compared with barely 20 per cent just after September 11, according to a major international opinion poll whose Norwegian part has been carried out by Norsk Gallup.
  (Dagbladet/Saturday)
• In a recent report lazy journalists and timid academics are blamed for the fact that fewer than 90 researchers supply half of the contributions to the media made by universities. "A large number of academics simply have nothing to say. To some extent universities are like sheltered workshops," said Frank Aarebrot, probably Norway’s most quoted academic.
  (Dagsavisen/Sunday)
• Board members of Norwegian companies are scared to death of being sued by shareholders for making the wrong decisions. Sales of personal liability insurance for board members have risen by 25 per cent in the past year.
  (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)
• Following a meeting yesterday between the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate and the Keiko team’s Colin Baird and Fernando Ugarte, it has now been decided that the world famous killer whale will stay in Norway this winter if he wants to.
  (NTB/Saturday)
• Keiko has caught a cold, according to the results of yesterday’s blood tests. The celebrity whale will now be given a course of antibiotics. And not only that – he will be force-fed and made to swim around again.
  (Dagbladet)

2. Today’s comment from Dagsavisen

Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik used the Christian Democratic Party’s central committee meeting on Friday to warn that the Government would be announcing a tight budget on 3 October. The objective is to bring interest rates down and thereby safeguard jobs in industry. The PM indicated that tax relief would be modest and some spending cuts unpleasant. He also prepared his fellow party members for a tough budget process in the Storting and an equally tough public debate. In other words, political reality has caught up with the Government. Mr Bondevik is correct in saying that a tight budget is required. We nevertheless feel it is necessary to warn against tightening things too much. It takes at least a year from the time the Storting adopts a budget until its effects are felt on the economy. If the economic downturn intensifies, a tight national budget will only make matters worse. The rules of the road say that you should put the brakes on when the economy is booming and open the throttle when it is in recession. Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss now has to show that he is a good driver.

3. Sport

Norway 2 – 2 Denmark