Norway Daily No. 50/03
Historical archive
Published under: Bondevik's 2nd Government
Publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
News story | Date: 12/03/2003 | Last updated: 11/11/2006
The Royal Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Oslo
Press Division – Editor: Ellen Vedde Blindheim
Norway Daily No. 50/03
Date: 12 March 2003
Call for public works and tax cuts (Dagens Næringsliv)
Nils Terje Furunes, a senior economist at Gjensidige Nor, is
calling for the Government to spend an additional NOK 5 billion on
public works and tax cuts. He believes rising unemployment requires
a much more active response from legislators. Today, Prime Minister
Kjell Magne Bondevik has called Labour leader Jens Stoltenberg and
Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen to an emergency meeting to
discuss the serious situation in the labour market. The
Government’s critics have now received support from a group of
senior economists. Mr Furunes and two other economists believe the
Government, and Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss in particular,
is not taking the sharp rise in unemployment seriously enough –
both in terms of the increase we have already seen and that which
is to come. Nor do they think the Norwegian Central Bank, the
Labour Party nor many of the banking industry’s economists are
aware of how serious the situation is.
Haggling over the bill (Dagbladet)
The party is over for the Norwegian economy. Now the
country’s top politicians are haggling over who should pay the
bill. "Fight over the bill? I have no problem with the bill. I for
one am ready to spend more of the country’s oil wealth," said Carl
I. Hagen in a televised debate on Tuesday. For its part, the
Government believes that the party is now over. After seven good
years come seven lean ones. Belts must now be tightened and people
must show moderation and temperance, according to Prime Minister
Kjell Magne Bondevik, Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss and
top-notch economists, while Labour leader Jens Stoltenberg is
partly in agreement.
Labour leader calls for Norwegian support for France (Dagsavisen)
Labour leader Jens Stoltenberg believes Norway should speak
up in the UN and give its backing to a French Security Council
veto. The centre-left bloc in Norwegian politics is now united on
the Iraq issue. Mr Stoltenberg says it would be right of France and
Russia to veto a proposal by the USA and the UK which opens the way
for an invasion of Iraq. "The weapons inspectors must be given the
opportunity to carry on working for as long as it is meaningful to
do so. At the same time, weapons inspections cannot go on
indefinitely," said Mr Stoltenberg. Kristin Halvorsen, leader of
the Socialist Left Party, also wants Norway to stand firmly behind
France and Russia. Though Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, chairwoman of
the Christian Democratic Party, refused to comment on the
possibility of a French or Russian veto in the Security Council,
she did make it clear that if a resolution proposed by the USA or
the UK was defeated or vetoed in the Security Council, she strongly
opposed a US attack on Iraq without a UN mandate. The Progress
Party is the only Norwegian political party which has clearly
voiced its preference for the USA’s line rather than that taken by
France, Germany and Russia.
Norway could be left with no EEA Agreement (Aftenposten)
After two months there is still no progress in the
negotiations to extend the EEA Agreement to cover the new EU member
states. If agreement is not reached before Easter, Norway could be
left without a working EEA Agreement from 1 May 2004. The hope that
the EEA Agreement can be extended simultaneously with the accession
of the EU’s new member states now hangs in the balance. If the EEA
negotiators do not reach agreement by 16 April, the EU cannot
guarantee that a revised EEA Agreement will be valid when the EU
expands its membership on 1 May 2004. If that were to happen, it
would cause major problems for Norwegian business and industry,
particularly the fishing industry.
Interest rates threatened by weaker krone (Aftenposten)
The Norwegian Central Bank’s own calculations show that the
fall in the Norwegian exchange rate is threatening the possibility
of further interest rate cuts. Since the Bank presented its
inflation report on Wednesday last week, the value of the Norwegian
krone against the euro has already fallen by 2 per cent. This means
more expensive imports, which will push up the Norwegian inflation
rate and reduce the chance of additional interest rates cuts.
Worth Noting
- Development Assistance Minister Hilde Frafjord Johnson has
spent NOK 6 million on a PR campaign that has been largely
unsuccessful. Ms Frafjord Johnson wanted to make the Norwegian
people more knowledgeable about foreign aid issues in the 50th
anniversary year of the start of Norwegian state-funded development
assistance. Instead, the public’s level of knowledge has fallen
slightly while the campaign has been running.
(Aftenposten) - A significant majority of people want a ban on keeping firearms
at home, and believe that all firearms should be held for
safekeeping by city or rural police departments.
(Nationen) - Irate cod fishermen who are prevented from further fishing
because catch quotas have already been met blockaded the harbour at
Solvær, Lofoten, yesterday evening. Fisheries Minister Svein
Ludvigsen condemned the action. "We have no tradition for illegal
protest actions paying off, and it will not happen this time
either," he said.
(Aftenposten) - Airline industry analysts are forecasting a crash landing for
SAS in the first quarter. "According to my latest calculations, SAS
will make a pre-tax loss of SEK 1 billion in the first quarter.
Passengers are staying away, and those that do fly with SAS are
paying less and less for their tickets," said airline analyst
Preben Rasch-Olsen.
(Dagens Næringsliv) - People in Norway are reading more weekly magazines than ever
before, and celebrity news is winning the readership battle.
Her og Nå has boosted its readership by 100,000 in the
past six months, while
Se og Hør’s growth continues apace.
(Dagens Næringsliv)
Today’s comment from Dagbladet
It is just a matter of time before Kjell Magne Bondevik and
Carl I. Hagen develop a common interest – the resignation of the
Bondevik-led minority coalition government. The Government’s budget
conference at Thorbjørnsrud in Jevnaker ended yesterday. We do not
know what was decided there, but the start of the conference was
more interesting than the result. Just before the ruling coalition
set off for the conference venue in Jevnaker, the Christian
Democratic Party leader, Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, threatened to
pull out of the Government if the party did not win support for its
demand for more local authority cash. Valgerd’s threat was not
aimed at the opposition in the Storting, but at her cabinet
colleagues from the Conservative Party. It is not the first time
the Christian Democrats have said it might be impossible for them
to remain in the Government, but there is a limit to how many times
a party can act in this way. When was the last time we heard
Valgerd or any other Christian Democrat speak with enthusiasm about
the ruling coalition, or express satisfaction over the issues the
party has succeeded in pushing through? When Valgerd is upset, sad
and sees only problems, she cannot expect the voters to be
particularly upbeat either.