Mona Juul asked for support for Peres Centre (Aftenposten)

Two years after Mona Juul, who is employed by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, received a USD 50,000 prize from the Peres Centre, she recommended that Norway should award that same organization a grant of USD 800,000. This has emerged from documents Aftenposten has gained access to. Ms Juul’s recommendation was accepted and the Peres Centre subsequently sent a letter of thanks for Norway’s support. The letter is addressed to Norway’s Ambassador to Israel, Mona Juul.

Oslo process surrounded by shady dealings (Dagsavisen)

News of the prize money controversy involving UN Special Envoy Terje Rød-Larsen and his wife, Norway’s Ambassador to Israel Mona Juul, has come as a surprise to many people in the Middle East. But it is hard to shock people here any more. Over the years ordinary Palestinians and Israelis have grown used to there being a lot of shady goings on in connection with the Oslo process. In the years when the Oslo peace process was still alive the various parties were always quick to blame the other side if anything went wrong and the peace process ground to a halt. But one of the reasons that peace never won sufficiently broad support – particularly among Palestinians, but also for Israelis – was that the peace process often went hand-in-hand with both corruption and dubious business deals.

Palestinians get help for rapid reconstruction (NTB)

The Palestinians were promised NOK 10.3 billion by donor countries attending an international conference in Oslo on Thursday. The conference called on the Israeli government to ensure that aid workers were allowed into Palestinian controlled areas and were able to work in safety, said State Secretary at the Foreign Ministry Vidar Helgesen at a press conference. "It is difficult to say how long the reconstruction will take," said a grateful Nabil Shaath, Palestinian Minister for Planning and International Cooperation. The money will be used for emergency aid and to rebuild the Palestinian controlled areas. The Norwegian government has pledged NOK 96 million to assist with the reconstruction effort.

Hagen undermines Bondevik’s power (Dagsavisen)

Carl I. Hagen plans to strip the Government of money and power with the help of the Socialist Left Party and the Labour Party. He wants to eat into Norway’s oil revenues and set up funds to finance several new areas. The Socialist Left Party, Labour and the Progress Party have given the Government a mauling with their agreement on the allocation of National Lottery profits. The most serious blow to the Government is that a majority of MPs have entered a four-year agreement to transfer NOK 14 billion from the Government Petroleum Fund to a fund which finances scientific research in Norway. "The Government will now be much more restricted and be in a much weaker negotiating position with regard to the opposition. It will therefore be ‘desperate’ to find a budget partner who it can enter a binding agreement with," said political science professor Trond Nordby.

Disagreement over cancer scare (Aftenposten)

Nordic scientists disagree about how dangerous our food actually is. Both Finnish and Norwegian scientists claim that the Swedes have jumped to a conclusion at too early a stage. The Finnish researcher, Leav Hyvönen, a professor of food technology at the University of Helsinki, believes the Swedes have exaggerated the cancer risk posed by eating fried foods such as crisps. "To ingest two milligrams of acrylamide, a person weighing 70 kg would have to eat 70 kg of potato crisps every day," said professor Hyvönen to the Swedish news programme Aktuelt.

Baksaas to take over at Telenor (Aftenposten)

Jon Fredrik Baksaas will take over as chief executive of Telenor when Tormod Hermansen retires on 1 July. Almost 200 candidates were considered for one of the country’s most important jobs. Mr Baksaas, who is currently Mr Hermansen’s deputy, declined to comment on his appointment yesterday. It is expected that his appointment be confirmed at a board meeting to be held today. "He is an extremely able chap who has done a fantastic job and who has taken over more and more of my responsibilities," said Mr Hermansen of his second-in-command.

Norman’s plans for ‘super-ministry’ shock civil service (Dagbladet)

Labour and Government Administration Minister Victor D. Norman is on the point of creating a new super-ministry which will turn today’s departmental structure upside down and lead to the ‘demolition’ and outsourcing of a number of government agencies by the end of the year. The Minister’s plans sent shock waves through the civil service, provoking anger and frustration yesterday afternoon, according to Dagbladet’s sources. In a memo circulated to staff at the Labour and Government Administration Ministry (AAD) and dependent agencies, Mr Norman outlined his plans to turn the AAD into a ‘service and modernization ministry’ for all other government ministries. This means that the AAD will take over responsibility for such shared facilities as booking and consulting services.

Integration expert slams Norwegian politicians (Dagsavisen)

According to integration expert Loveleen Kuma, the Prime Minister and other political leaders have exploited the recent tragic killings to introduce new legislation, rules and registers for immigrants. "I do not think they know what integration means. The youths who were involved in the double killing in Moss are as representative of immigrants in Norway as the Baneheia child-murderers are of the inhabitants of Kristiansand," said Ms Kuma.

Drug abusers win right to medical treatment (Aftenposten)

In the not too distant future drug addicts will be given the legal right to demand treatment for their substance abuse and other medical problems. This spring the Government has been working hard to provide substance abusers with the same patients’ rights as other groups in society – with the full backing of the Storting. The scheme will probably be come into effect 1 January 2003.

Worth Noting

• Snøgg Industri AS has discontinued its production of the Dent-O-Sept oral swab. "We will never again make that kind of product," said company chairman Oscar Jebsen. (Fædrelandsvennen)
• Health Minister Dagfinn Høybråten (Chr.Dem) announced on Thursday that changes would be made in patient compensation schemes. Mr Høybråten made the announcement in a speech to the Storting on the serious outbreak of bacterial infection caused by the Dent-O-Sept oral swab. (NTB)
• Norway’s Chief of Defence Staff, Lt.Gen. Sigurd Frisvold, has apologised deeply for the fact that the Armed Forces failed to fully inform the Storting about Norway’s purchases of Israeli armaments. (NTB)
• The Norwegian Farmers’ Union and the Norwegian Farmers’ and Smallholders’ Union yesterday presented their demands in connection with this year’s negotiations on agricultural subsidies. The farmers are demanding a total of NOK 1,625 million, which corresponds to a NOK 21,000 pay rise for each full-time agricultural worker. (Nationen)
• Per Ravn Omdal and Lennart Johansson were shocked after Mr Omdal’s failure to win re-election to FIFA’s executive committee. Opposition candidate Michel Platini and FIFA president Sepp Blatter were jubilant. (Dagbladet)

Today’s comment from Dagens Næringsliv

Recent opinion polls indicate that the Labour Party could have turned the corner. One obvious reason is that the party’s leadership battle has been concluded. Jens Stoltenberg is the boss and Thorbjørn Jagland is more preoccupied with holiday home purchases. After many stormy months the Storting’s largest party once again has the energy to focus on something other than personnel issues. This is a good thing for Norwegian democracy. In the past few weeks Mr Stoltenberg has criticized the Government for its fumbling response to the Middle East conflict, demanded that Agriculture Minister Lars Sponheim tones down his arrogance, demonstrated divisions within the ruling coalition over the use of military personnel and equipment to deport asylum-seekers and taken a clear stand against the construction of additional large-scale hydro-electric power schemes. In addition he has begun to serve up his analysis of the problems his own party is suffering from: that the voters do not care much about past glories and that the promise of business as usual has little to offer those with a passion in their hearts. It is oft repeated, but no less true for that – the greatest resurrection from the ashes by a western, social democratic party in recent years was achieved by the British Labour Party. When Tony Blair took over as party leader in 1994 he spent months and years getting his party to unite behind a new political direction. Only when he had whipped his troops into line did he launch a powerful – and successful – attack on the Conservative government. Jens Stoltenberg has a lot to do. And his first task must be to moderate his local party members’ wilder schemes for increased public expenditure. Norway has enough populist parties as it is.

Council of State

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