Foreign Ministry unaware of Rød-Larsen’s prize money (Aftenposten)

Senior officials at the Foreign Ministry learned only yesterday that Terje Rød-Larsen and his wife Mona Juul had received USD 100,000 in 1999 from the Shimon Peres Centre in Israel. "They should have reported this money to the Ministry. This could become a very difficult issue," said a centrally placed source to Aftenposten. Both Ms Juul and Mr Rød-Larsen were employed by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry in 1999. From 1997 to 2002 the Ministry provided over NOK 10 million in funding to the Shimon Peres Centre. The Foreign Ministry was unable to say if the couple had been involved in awarding the grants. A full investigation into the affair has now been launched in an effort to discover if any criticism is in order.

Parliamentary majority against Sponheim (Dagsavisen)

Agriculture Minister Lars Sponheim (Lib) is under considerable pressure from the leaders of the Labour, Socialist Left, Christian Democratic and Centre Party parliamentary groups. They have called on Mr Sponheim to reverse his controversial decision to exempt a fellow Liberal Party member from the permanent residence requirement which the local council in Lillesand has imposed to prevent residential property being turned into holiday homes. So far Mr Sponheim has been accused of failing to follow proper procedures in dealing with the case, concealing relevant information from the Storting and cronyism. The party leaders in the Storting have now taken the matter a step further. They claim that the very nature of this particular issue – exemption from the permanent residence requirement – could have serious consequences and poses a threat to the entire scheme. The party leaders, who represent a substantial majority of MPs, are therefore leaning heavily on Mr Sponheim to get him to change his decision.

Farmers demand dearer food (Aftenposten)

Farmers’ organizations are deeply unhappy with the Government’s tax proposals and will demand around NOK 1.5 billion in agricultural subsidies and grants this year. The Norwegian Farmers’ Union has made the biggest demands, placing great emphasis on both tax cuts and increased food prices. The Norwegian Farmers’ and Smallholders’ Union is also calling for a substantial rise in food prices. The demands are due to be presented to the Government tomorrow.

Major export of telecom equipment to Israel (Klassekampen)

Norway exports large amounts of telecommunications equipment to Israel. In the past four years the value of such exports has totalled NOK 214 million. With its offensive against Palestinian targets over the past few months, Israeli forces have destroyed the telecom infrastructure in the Palestinian controlled areas. This makes wireless communications particularly important for the Israeli occupying forces. The Norwegian company, Nera, which supplies part of the Norwegian telecom exports, actively markets its products to military customers.

State sell-off stymied (Dagens Næringsliv)

The Progress Party has changed its mind and now wants to reduce the sell-off of shares in state-owned companies, following a lobbying campaign by the Norwegian Investors’ Forum led by billionaire supermarket-owner Stein Erik Hagen. Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen could therefore inflict a humiliating parliamentary defeat on Trade and Industry Minister Ansgar Gabrielsen. The Progress Party does not want to risk the state’s shareholding in several key Norwegian companies being sold off cheap to foreign buyers. The Progress Party’s argument is identical to that used by Stein Erik Hagen and the Norwegian Investors’ Forum.

Labour and Conservatives gain ground (Dagsavisen)

The Labour and Conservative parties have made the largest gains, while the Socialist Left Party and the Progress Party have lost the most ground. These are the most important changes to emerge from AC Nielsen’s April poll, which was carried out on behalf of the Newspapers’ News Agency (ANB). The Labour Party climbs back over the 20 per cent mark, while the Conservatives have regained their position as the country’s largest political party. The Conservatives top the list with the support of 23 per cent of the electorate, the Progress Party close behind on 22 per cent. In third place is the Labour Party on 20.8 per cent, an increase of 2.5 percentage points compared to the previous poll. The Socialist Left Party ends up on 15 per cent, following a substantial 3.8 point slide.

Environment Minister expresses doubts about gold mining on Svalbard (Aftenposten)

Environment Minister Børge Brende has expressed doubts about Store Norske Spitsbergen Kullkompani’s plans to mine for gold on Svalbard. "However, we have not previously refused permission to carry out pilot drilling to map out possible deposits. We should also wait for notification or an application for permission to mine from Store Norske," said Mr Brende. When the new environment legislation for Svalbard comes into effect from 1 July this year, Store Norske must apply for a mining licence. This could throw a spanner in the works for pilot drilling next summer.

Worth Noting

• Several coalition MPs have criticized their own Agriculture Minister. "Lars Sponheim’s handling of the permanent residence requirement case gives the impression of political shenanigans and something verging on the sleazy," said Conservative MP Jan Olav Olsen. Open hearings on the issue may now be a possibility. (Dagbladet)
• The Government is considering whether job-seekers from those countries which have applied for EU membership should be granted residence permits from as early as 2003. The reason is that Norway is suffering from a substantial labour shortage. (Aftenposten)
• The Norwegian krone strengthened its exchange rate against the euro to an ‘all time high’ yesterday. This is bad news for those who have invested their savings in international unit trusts. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Telenor’s chairman, Tom Vidar Rygh, must come up with the name of a potential CEO for the company by this coming Tuesday. This is the view of many people – both inside Telenor and in the financial community. If he does not, they say, it will weaken public confidence in the company. (Aftenposten)
• The European Commission has decided to postpone the controversial reform of the EU’s fisheries policy, which was due to have been published today. The proposal has already been postponed once, and should have been presented last week. (NTB)
• Education Minister Kristin Clemet wants to put a ban on school bullying on the statute books. Teachers will have a duty to report incidents of bullying, and both teachers and headteachers could lose their jobs if they do nothing about it. (Vårt Land)
• The Progress Party, Labour Party and Socialist Left Party have agreed to a deal which gives sporting and cultural activities NOK 800 million more from the profits of the Norwegian National Lottery. Scientific research will be safeguarded through the transfer of NOK 14 billion to the Research Fund. This is in addition to the NOK 13 billion which is currently administered by the Fund. (Dagsavisen)
• Last year 538 children were removed from their parents by child welfare officers. Social services have never previously taken so many children into care as they did last year. Family courts dealt with 2,646 cases last year, and many of them ended with the children being taken into the care of the local authority. (Dagbladet)
• 600,000 Norwegians suffer from noise pollution. Today is World Noise-Free Day, but the noise just carries on growing – primarily as a result of the increase in road traffic. (Vårt Land)

Today’s comment from Aftenposten

The Socialist Left Party is in a position to decide if there is a parliamentary majority in favour of changing the way the profits from the Norwegian National Lottery are allocated. Today’s scheme means that sport, culture and scientific research each receive a third of those profits, which add up to just over NOK 800 million per year to each of these worthy causes. The Progress Party, with the backing of the Labour Party and the Centre Party, has proposed that scientific research should no longer be among the beneficiaries, and that sport and culture should split the cash evenly between themselves. The ruling coalition wants to keep the current system until the Government has the opportunity to review the issue in a wider context this autumn. Trond Giske and the Labour Party believe the interests of scientific research can be safeguarded by transferring NOK 14 billion to the Research Fund, which should be sufficient to give an annual return on investment equivalent to the funds research currently receives from the Norwegian National Lottery. We do not deny that this could be a feasible solution, but in that case the Storting should comply with the Government’s wish to spend more time examining the implications of such a move so that the scientists themselves can feel comfortable with it. From a procedural point of view it is not reassuring to carry out a fundamental change in the way Norwegian sporting and cultural affairs, as well as scientific research are funded merely on the basis of a private members’ bill from the Progress Party.