Norway Daily No. 67/03
Historical archive
Published under: Bondevik's 2nd Government
Publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
News story | Date: 04/04/2003 | Last updated: 11/11/2006
The Royal Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Oslo
Press Division
Norway Daily No. 67/03
Date: 4 April 2003
Date: 4 April 2003
“This is Bondevik” (Dagsavisen)
A notorious Norwegian conman has struck again. Last Friday
Richard Ringheim (19) phoned the American Embassy in Oslo claiming
to be Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and told the US
Ambassador that the USA had Norway’s complete support in the war
against Iraq. “I introduced myself as Kjell Magne Bondevik and
asked to speak to the Ambassador. ‘It is most urgent.’,” said the
19-year-old. “Half a minute later the Ambassador was on the line.
‘Hello, Prime Minister,’ he said. Then we had a conversation
lasting 10 to 15 minutes.” Ringheim said he told the US Ambassador
that he personally was completely behind the USA in its war on
Iraq. “I told him that this was something I could not say publicly
due to a lack of support in the Government and the party,” he
said.
Politicians enter home straight on EEA Agreement (Dagens Næringsliv)
The negotiations to extend the EEA Agreement to cover the new
EU member states is being lifted up onto the political level in the
rush to reach a conclusion before the deadline expires on Monday.
Norway is refusing to offer more money until the EU has accepted
its demands with regard to fish exports. Prime Minister Kjell Magne
Bondevik hopes it will be possible to reach agreement before the
deadline on Monday. “The situation is difficult. We are monitoring
developments continuously, and hope to reach agreement so that EEA
expansion and EU enlargement can be dealt with in parallel. For
Norway, what remains is to reach an agreement on fish exports that
can justify billions of kroner in contributions to economic and
social equalization. The only acceptable solution is a substantial
reduction in EU import tariffs,” said Mr Bondevik.
Less independence for Immigration Directorate (Aftenposten)
Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg
is planning to reorganize the way Norway’s asylum and immigration
policies are managed. Decisions of principle will be removed from
the remit of the Immigration Directorate (UDI) and placed under
political control. Ms Solberg has outlined how she foresees the
reorganization. In future, the major issues of principle, such as
analyzing the situation in so-called refugee-producing countries,
will be determined at the political level. Decisions relating to
individual asylum seekers or immigrants will remain in the hands of
the UDI and the Immigration Appeals Board (UNE). According to Ms
Solberg, one of the factors influencing the reorganization is that
the UDI and the UNE have operated with widely differing perceptions
of the situation in individual countries. “We can live with the
fact that Norwegian immigration authorities have varying opinions
about individual people, but we cannot live with varying country
analyses. Norwegian immigration authorities must have a common view
of the situation in the countries which asylum seekers come from,”
she said.
Telenor moves to get Bravida back on track (Dagens Næringsliv)
It falls to Bravida’s new chairman, former deputy chief
executive at Telenor, Terje Thon, to get the troubled
telecommunications installation company back on track. Mr Thon will
also be the one to decide if Bravida boss Jan Kåre Pedersen gets to
keep his job. Mr Pedersen has refused to comment on revelations
that he received payments of NOK 15 million from Bravida in 2002,
at the same time as the company is to shed 950 jobs.
Conservatives and Christian Democrats clash over tax cuts (Dagsavisen)
Ine Marie Eriksen, leader of the Conservative Party’s youth
wing and a member of the party’s central committee, has accused
Christian Democratic Party chairwoman Valgerd Svarstad Haugland of
pushing the Conservatives to the limit by sowing doubts about the
Government’s commitment to its pledge to cut taxes. Ms Eriksen does
not accept the Christian Democratic Party leader’s desire to boost
local government funding at the expense of further tax cuts. “There
is a limit to what we can tolerate, too,” said Ms Eriksen, adding
that the Conservatives’ enthusiasm for participating in the current
coalition government could fade if its key policy issue – tax cuts
– no longer had the full backing of the cabinet. “If our
vision of increasing personal freedom through lower taxes is
weakened, the whole enterprise will begin to cost too much,” she
said.
Worth Noting
- The European Movement in Norway will have to elect a new leader
following the decision by Wenche Fossen to step down after just
four months in office. The election will take place during the
organization’s annual general meeting this weekend. On Thursday,
the selection committee had not yet found a replacement.
(Dagsavisen) - Bergen’s richest man, Trond Mohn, says that Gjensidige Nor will
be devoured lock, stock and barrel if the merger with Den norske
Bank (DnB) goes ahead. According to Mr Mohn, a foreign partner
would take better care of Gjensidige Nor’s corporate culture.
Gjensidige Nor’s chief executive Helge Leiro Baastad remains firm
that “it is DnB that we want”.
(Dagens Næringsliv) - “It is important that the Government speaks with one voice, and
it is unfortunate that she (Defence Minister Kristin Krohn Devold)
and other ministers make public statements that create uncertainty
about Norway’s position on the war,” said Labour leader Jens
Stoltenberg in response to Ms Krohn Devold’s comments on Norway’s
neutrality with respect to the war on Iraq. The Socialist Left
Party’s defence policy spokesman Kjetil Bjørklund also feels that
Ms Krohn Devold’s comments show that there is a difference between
what Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik says and what Conservative
ministers are saying.
(Nationen) - TV2’s two representatives left Baghdad on Thursday as a result
of the invasion forces’ advance on the city in the past few days.
For the moment, therefore, freelance journalist Åsne Seierstad is
the only Norwegian journalist left in Baghdad.
(Nationen)
Today’s comment from Dagsavisen
Yesterday’s unemployment figures tell of a dramatic worsening
in the labour market. 91,400 people are completely without work.
This is 30 per cent more than at the same point last year.
Together, the number of people who are completely out of work and
those participating in labour market schemes has now climbed to
106,600. The most frightening thing is that the situation will
probably only get worse in the coming months. There is a danger
that unemployment will get stuck at a historically high level if
current economic and industrial policies remain unchanged in the
years to come. The challenge for our politicians must be to ensure
the forecasts do not become a reality by changing those
policies.
In that respect, a wage settlement, prioritizing those on low incomes and without a general pay rise for all, such as that agreed by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), the Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS) and the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), is an important contribution. Other employee groups can simply forget any attempt to negotiate a better deal. It is an unfortunate fact that recent years’ wage settlements have helped to weaken the country’s competitiveness to such an extent that industrial job losses have escalated. With today’s gloomy outlook with regard to unemployment, next year’s ordinary wage settlement ought to result in no pay rises at all for most people.
Now it is the turn of the Government and the Storting to act. A wide-ranging review of budget policy, monetary policy, incomes policy and, not least, industrial policy is necessary. We must develop a package whose overall objective is full employment. We would urge the political parties, in the strongest possible terms, to pull together. Halvorsen and Foss, Stoltenberg and Hagen must stop squabbling. The majority of people – and the unemployed in particular – are not interested in political point scoring. They want results.