Negotiations with EU on verge of breakdown (Dagens Næringsliv)

There are strong indications that negotiations to extend the EEA Agreement to the new EU member states will break down today. The gulf between Norway and the European Commission has increased dramatically after the EU’s decision this weekend to withdraw its offer of full compensation for import duties on Norwegian fish, worth NOK 130–150 million. This weekend the EU reduced its offer of compensation for fish import duties by some tens of millions of kroner. According to Norway’s negotiating team, the EU’s decision has moved it a long way away from the Norwegian demand, which the EU had earlier partly accepted. If the EU sticks to its position today, it will lead to a complete breakdown of negotiations.

SAS boss could get a pension of NOK 2 million a year (Dagens Næringsliv)

The airline SAS, led by chief executive Jørgen Lindegaard, is planning to cut its employees’ pensions. Last year Mr Lindegaard secured for himself a pension agreement on much better terms than those to which ordinary employees are entitled. The agreement is costing SAS NOK 1 million extra per year. The aim was for SAS and the unions to conclude their negotiations on a major cost-cutting programme for the airline today. High on the list of SAS management’s wishes is a cut in the employee pension scheme. "I do not want to comment on whether we will be cutting Mr Lindegaard’s pension. The board must have the opportunity to evaluate how far we have come with the employees first," said SAS chairman Egil Myklebust.

Liberals balk at stopping the Storting (Nationen)

More local government autonomy, and a halt to the Storting’s practice of earmarking central government transfers and imposing myriads of minimum standards on local authorities. These were the strongest signals from the Liberal Party’s annual conference this weekend. But the slogan ‘Stop the Storting’ proved too hard to swallow. Nevertheless the party’s manifesto calls for a significant transfer of power from the Storting to local councils. And as delegate Jon Kenneth Stavenes from Hordaland said during the debate: "When Sverdrup said ‘All power in this assembly’, it was the appointed civil service he wanted to take power from, not the people themselves – which is what the Storting is currently doing." The Liberals’ annual conference has called for local government autonomy to be enshrined in the Constitution. This is something the Liberal Party proposed in the previous parliamentary term. A bill to that effect will probably be proposed during the spring session. "Every individual is most qualified to know what is best for him or her. Decisions which, for societal reasons, it is not natural for the individual citizen to take, shall be taken at the nearest level of government, the local council," says the text of the proposal.

Labour calls for Government to clarify its position on tax cuts (Dagsavisen)

The Labour Party’s deputy leader Hill-Marta Solberg has called for the Government to clarify its position on tax cuts after comments by leading coalition party politicians pointing in different directions. At the same time, she has made it clear that Labour will say no to new tax cuts next year. "It is fairly astonishing that two ministers should be giving such different signals about the Government’s tax policies," said Ms Solberg. She was referring to comments at the end of last week by Christian Democratic Party chairwoman Valgerd Svarstad Haugland to the effect that there would be no further tax cuts, while Conservative Party Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss has stated publicly that the NOK 31 billion in tax cuts included in the coalition government’s inaugural declaration still stand. "It is up to the Prime Minister to sort this mess out. We cannot have a situation where the Christian Democrats are operating with one political agenda, while the rest of the Government has another," said Ms Solberg. "It is crystal clear that Labour will not support tax cuts, either in this spring’s revised national budget or next year’s budget. It would be meaningless to grant tax cuts with the current level of unemployment and the situation facing local authorities as it is now," said Ms Solberg, referring to the rising level of unemployment in the private sector and the budget shortfall facing many local authorities.

Labour leader accuses PM of making Norway a colder place (Dagbladet/Saturday)

Labour leader Jens Stoltenberg has savaged the Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and his coalition government’s policies. According to Mr Stoltenberg, we are witnessing the sharpest swing to the right in Norwegian history. Mr Bondevik has been PM for 17 months, as long as Mr Stoltenberg’s own period as head of government. But that is the only similarity between the two, according to Mr Stoltenberg. "The Government, with the help of the Progress Party, is responsible for tax cuts amounting to NOK 20 billion, most of them going to the people who have most already. To finance these tax cuts, the Government must slash welfare benefits. This policy violates the fundamental objectives and values which have made Norway the world’s best country to live in," said Mr Stoltenberg.

Everybody equal in Finnmark (Nationen/Saturday)

"We want everyone who lives in Finnmark to have equal rights, regardless of their ethnic background," said Justice Minister Odd Einar Dørum (Lib) when he announced the Government’s proposed new Finnmark Act on Friday. The Government is planning to create a new and independent body to manage the Norwegian Forestry Commission land in Finnmark, which means 95 per cent of all uncultivated land in the county. At the same time, public access to these uncultivated areas will be largely preserved as it is today. "We invite everyone who lives in Finnmark to participate in the management of the county’s natural resources when the state pulls out as landowner. The Government has attempted, as far as possible, to listen to all sides. We hope we have come up with a regulatory framework that takes into account the interests of all those who live in the county, at the same time as we are considerate of the Sámi as an indigenous people," said Mr Dørum.

1. Worth Noting

• The European Movement in Norway is impatient, and wants Norway to join the EU in record time. The European Movement’s annual conference voted yesterday in favour of a resolution calling for a new application to join the EU to be made as quickly as possible. "Norway should apply to join the EU at the latest in 2005, with a referendum on the issue at the latest in 2007. But Norway should prepare an application as quickly as possible." Svein Roald Hansen, Labour MP for Østfold County, was elected new chairman of the European Movement in Norway.
  (Dagsavisen)
• Among the Government’s proposals included in a new action plan to limit the commercial pressures on children and young people, are a ban on cinema advertising in connection with films for children under the age of seven, a tightening up of the Marketing Control Act and new rules regulating spin-off products.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• Over 5,000 people gathered in Odda on Saturday to protest against the closure of local hospitals up and down the country. A national network in support of Norway’s small hospitals is currently being established. "Our objective is to make the politicians realize that close collaboration between large and small hospitals is the best alternative," said the protest action’s leader Terje Kolbotn of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) in Odda.
  (Aftenposten)

2. Today’s comment from Nationen

Is there a limit to the amount of political hardships, tribulations and defeats Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik can endure? No one knows. But one thing is certain, this cannot go on for much longer. The downward slide for the Government and for Mr Bondevik and his Christian Democratic Party must be halted. Quickly. If this autumn’s local elections really do inflict the disaster on the ruling coalition parties that the polls are currently predicting, it could well be more than the coalition can bear. The big brother in the coalition, the Conservative Party, has already tasted the Christian Democrats’ desperation. Christian Democratic Party chairwoman Valgerd Svarstad Haugland has, with the PM’s tacit approval, publicly ordered Conservative Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss to drop tax cuts from next year’s budget, in order to strengthen the Christian Democrats’ keynote policy, local government financing. This is strong stuff between coalition partners. But we could see a lot more of it in the near future. With growing despair, ministers are watching voters desert to parties that have never even been close to taking responsibility: the Progress Party and the Socialist Left Party. Has Norway become impossible to govern? It is a good question. The Bondevik government has certainly changed. The coalition has more or less splintered apart; the PM reduced to a hostage in his own cabinet. The Government has gradually turned into a collection of political fiefdoms, with parties and ministers ruling their individual domains. It seems as though everyone is out to pursue their own objectives, regardless of the rest.