No evidence needed to keep Krekar on remand (Aftenposten)

According to Dutch prosecutors, Mullah Krekar has little chance of being released from custody when he appears before a court in the Netherlands for a remand hearing today. The state prosecutor need only present the Jordanian charges, which only refer to an alleged violation of the law and a description of the alleged offence. When Mullah Krekar met his Norwegian lawyer, Brynjar N. Melling, yesterday he expressed the hope that he would be released from custody today, so that he could travel to Norway a free man. That is something he can probably forget.

Mullah Krekar appeals to Norwegian authorities (Verdens Gang)

Through his lawyer, Mullah Krekar has asked the Norwegian authorities to "think twice and take sufficient time to evaluate the deportation case against him". "He has asked me to make this appeal to the Norwegian authorities. Krekar maintains that he wants to go home to Norway. We believe Norway has a responsibility in relation to a citizen in possession of Norwegian travel documents who is under arrest in another country," said Mullah Krekar’s lawyer, Brynjar N. Meling.

State housing loans for more homes (Aftenposten)

In next year’s national budget the Norwegian State Housing Bank will be allocated an additional NOK 1-2 billion that it can lend to homebuyers. This means up to NOK 3,000 more new homes than this year. The Norwegian State Housing Bank’s lending limit will be increased from NOK 13 billion to NOK 14-15 billion. Fears of a slump in housing construction next year have prompted the increase. It is thought that Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg and Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss were at odds over this issue. Agreement was not reached until the Government’s final budget conference, when Ms Solberg’s demand for an increase in the lending limit won the day. However, the rise is unlikely to have any effect on house prices, because the shortage of residential property is too great. Around 25,000 new homes are required annually, but on average only 20,000 new homes have been built each year.

No tendering of care provision (Dagsavisen)

Labour candidate Rune Gerhardsen will attempt to make a comeback as leader of Oslo’s Municipal Executive Board at next year’s local elections. But he has already promised not to put public sector care provision out to tender. "We will be extremely careful about handing over the care of those who are weakest and in greatest difficulties to others," said Mr Gerhardsen. Oslo’s current Municipal Executive Board, which is made up of Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Liberals, have been extremely active in inviting tenders for the provision of care for the elderly.

Tired of governing with Erna (Dagsavisen)

Give local authorities more money or resign from office. That was the message Christian Democrat and Liberal mayors sent to their own party leaders when over 300 mayors gathered in Oslo yesterday to attend a local government conference. "The Government has provided for growth in the local government sector," said Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg. The mayors just laughed. Many of them are now planning swingeing cuts in public services because they do not have the money to maintain current standards.

Majority support likely for ban on smoking in cafes (Aftenposten)

There is widespread opposition in both the Conservatives and the Labour Party for the Government’s proposed total ban on smoking in restaurants, bars and cafes. But even if the Conservatives and the Labour Party should allow their MPs a free vote on this issue, it would require a major upset for a parliamentary majority to vote against it. Only the Progress Party is against a total ban. The most probable outcome therefore is a broad-based compromise on a somewhat less draconian measure than the total ban initially proposed by Health Minister Dagfinn Høybråten.

Employees want more union choice (Klassekampen)

Four out of five people want a larger number of unions to choose between, according to a poll carried out by the private sector union PRIFO, which is affiliated to the Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS). Those with the highest incomes and highest education are the keenest to have the opportunity to shop around for a union that suits them best. "We had expected the majority to say they wanted the chance to choose between a larger number of trade unions, but that 83 per cent support our view is higher than I had anticipated," said PRIFO leader Lisbeth Eliasson.

LO president turns down pay rise (Dagens Næringsliv)

Gerd-Liv Valla, president of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) wants to freeze her own salary next year, and has called on the Prime Minister, other ministers and senior executives to do the same. "If we are serious about wage moderation, society’s leaders must show the way. Senior executive pay should be frozen next year, and that also includes mine. I expect Mr Bondevik and the rest of his cabinet to be willing to do the same," said Ms Valla, who earns NOK 760,000 per year.

Woman sought (Dagbladet)

One of the most influential board positions in the Nordic region is vacant – the chairmanship of Orkla. "If they managed to find a woman, it would be both ideal and fantastic," said Stein Stugu, long-serving board member representing Orkla’s employees. Current chairman Tom Ruud yesterday announced his decision to step down after a year in office. "I am obviously open for either a man or a woman, but I must remind people that both the women board members we have today were elected by the shareholders. So we are well on our way," said Harald Arnkværn, chairman of Orkla’s selection committee. His pointed remarks are aimed at the company’s employees, who have elected only men to represent them on the board. Three of Orkla’s 10 board members are elected by the employees. The stage could therefore be set for renewed fighting over one of the most powerful and influential positions in Norwegian business life.

Worth Noting

• By the end of next year you will no longer have to hunt about for loose change when you pass a toll booth on roads which make use of an electronic payment system - if you have an electronic chip attached to your windscreen and are a paid-up subscriber to one toll company. Your subscription will enable you to pass through all of them and the bill will be sent by post. The scheme will be valid first in Norway, then in the Nordic region – and eventually in the whole of Europe.
  (Aftenposten)
• Interest rates remain unchanged, but that is simply due to the fact that the Norwegian exchange rate is strong, and the international economy is treading water. "We see more or less the same trends in the Norwegian economy as before, with high cost inflation and rising prices on domestically produced goods and services, said Jarle Bergo, Deputy Governor of the Norwegian Central Bank yesterday.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Current legislation does not take into account that sex offences are committed in a forced marriage, according to the voluntary organization, Human Rights Service. The organization has called on Justice Minister Odd Einar Dørum to intervene. Human Rights Service was allocated NOK 500,000 to work on immigrant integration issues in this year’s revised national budget.
  (Dagsavisen)
• Around 3,000 litres of the deadly methanol-contaminated alcohol were yesterday still in circulation. However, the police’s "offer" that purchasers could anonymously turn in the illicit alcohol by leaving it outside local police stations has led to more of the spirits coming to light.
  (Dagsavisen)
• Per Olaf Lundteigen, former Centre Party general secretary, has received little support for his attack on the party’s current leadership and parliamentary group. According to a number of centrally placed sources, the party’s major problem is a lack of grassroots commitment.
  (Nationen)
• "I note that Jens P. Heyerdahl has said that he is of no interest as a potential candidate for the chairmanship of Orkla – a sentiment with which I quite agree," said Harald Arnkværn, chairman of the company’s selection committee and corporate assembly.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Local government employees in Norway are more "protected" than their counterparts in other European countries. The risk of being outcompeted by private sector interests is extremely small.
  (Aftenposten)
• Gerd-Liv Valla, president of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), is ready to do battle against Education Minister Kristin Clemet’s private schools. She is now contacting other employee organizations to stop the proposed bill. "The Government’s proposal would give private schools free access to state funds," she said.
  (Dagsavisen)
• Police officers in Oslo worked overtime to the tune of NOK 105 million last year. This corresponds to 300 jobs on normal pay. Chief Constable Anstein Gjengedal has now been called to account by Justice Minister Odd Einar Dørum and the Office of the Auditor General.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Charges are dropped in almost half of all cases relating to child pornography in Norway, according to figures from Statistics Norway. Charges in the majority of cases are dropped because the police and prosecutors lack sufficient evidence.
  (NRK/NTB)
• When the head of the Free Willy Foundation met representatives from the Fisheries Directorate in Bergen on Wednesday, he said that Keiko will be staying in Norway for a while.
  (Aftenposten)

Today’s comment from Dagens Næringsliv

A reluctance to change is a fundamental of human nature. Any organization will therefore try most other options before embarking on a major restructuring process. In business such processes are usually initiated only when companies’ financial losses begin to assume catastrophic proportions. The knee-jerk reaction of politicians and bureaucrats is to make their own budget deficits into somebody else’s problem. And true to form the local authority mayors who met in Oslo yesterday said that the economic problems they are struggling with as a result of additional insurance premiums and shrinking tax revenues should be sorted out by central government. If not, the weakest among us would be the ones to suffer, they insisted. Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg responded to this in exemplary fashion by saying, no. There will be no extra cash hand-outs in the upcoming national budget. She pointed out that the potential for rationalization in the local government sector remains considerable, and added that it would be quite wrong to increase the level of local government activity at a time when the economy is already under pressure. The ball is therefore back in the court of the local politicians, who are therefore obliged to try the other painful alternative – restructuring. It is true that the mayors do have one good point. Part of their misery is due MPs’ penchant for grandiose, rights-based reforms, which they then tell the local authorities to go off and implement. Nevertheless, the answer is not to throw more money at the problem, but to give local politicians the freedom to decide their own priorities.

NOREG