Norwegian troops could still be sent to Iraq (Aftenposten)

Norway is still involved in talks with its Nato and UN allies on a new military force to be deployed in Iraq. Denmark yesterday withdrew as leader of the new Iraq force, but this does not alter Norway’s position. “Denmark’s decision will have little impact on any future Norwegian force. The issue of who leads the brigade is, in many ways, less important than who and what is included in the force,” said Defence Minister Kristin Krohn Devold.

Bondevik wants to give Bush a Norwegian force for Iraq (Dagbladet)

The Government is working flat out to make it possible for Norway to participate in a military force in Iraq. The hope is to find a solution that would enable Norway to participate in such a force before Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik meets President Bush at the White House on 16 May. The biggest stumbling block in the way of sending a Norwegian military contingent to Iraq is a lack of legitimacy under international law.

Vote for Labour is vote for EU membership (Nationen)

The chairman of the Storting’s Foreign Affairs Committee and former Labour leader, Thorbjørn Jagland, says that the country’s political parties must clearly indicate where they stand on EU membership before the 2005 general election. “If people want Norway to join the EU they must vote for parties that support EU membership at the next general election in 2005. We cannot distance ourselves from our policy on this issue for tactical reasons. When we go to the polls, we must say loud and clear that Labour is in favour of EU membership. From a democratic point of view, I think the people have a right to say what they think about the EU at the next general election,” said Mr Jagland.

Opposition parties seek solution in row over tax exemption (Aftenposten)

Labour leader Jens Stoltenberg and Progress Party deputy leader Siv Jensen are planning to sit down quietly in an attempt to resolve the row over tax exemption for pre-school day-care places paid for by parents’ employers. “The best thing to do at this time is for us to sit down quietly and work it out,” said Mr Stoltenberg. The disagreement revolves around the controversial proposal to exempt nursery fees paid for by parents’ employers from income tax, and whether this should extend to everybody whose employer foots the bill or just those whose children attend a company nursery, in which the employer has a financial stake.

Opposition parties clash over tax exemption (Aftenposten)

The opposition parties, who last year united behind the pre-school day-care reform package, are now deeply divided over the issue of tax exemption for nursery places paid for by parents’ employers. The Socialist Left Party’s Øystein Djupedal has now declared publicly the need for the Socialist Left Party, Progress Party, Labour Party and Centre Party to return to the negotiating table. “We are prepared to clarify this particular point, but the solution will be found in conjunction with the other opposition parties,” he said.

Government should not resign (Nationen)

The Conservative Party’s branch chairmen do not think the pre-school day-care reform package is an issue the Government should resign over. “But obviously, the line has to be drawn somewhere. The opposition parties are behaving ludicrously in joining forces on issues there is no money for. At least, they have given no indication of where the money is to come from. And they know full well that, whatever funding solution is proposed, at least one of them will disagree with it,” said Birger Westlund, chairman of the Conservative Party’s Finnmark branch.

Erna Solberg, darling of the Conservative rank-and-file (Aftenposten)

Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg is way out in front when Conservative Party activists rank the performance of their own ministers. She is also the only Conservative minister whose popularity has actually risen in the past year. And this despite the fact that she receives a never-ending stream of complaints from frustrated local councillors bemoaning the lack of money in the local government sector. Ms Solberg also presides over a ministry that has responsibility for the always controversial issue of refugee and asylum policy. She herself believes her popularity is due to the fact that “people like to be told what is what”.

LO’s job is done (Dagsavisen)

The executive committee of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) voted yesterday to recommend the settlement proposed by the arbitrator in the pay negotiations between the LO and the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) – with only one dissenting voice. Gerd-Liv Valla, president of the LO is extremely pleased with the result. “We have met the objectives of the incomes policy agreement with the Government. The proposal strengthens industry’s competitiveness and safeguards jobs. At the same time, it gives relatively large pay rises to those on low incomes, which was what the LO wanted,” said Ms Valla.

A tank of petrol and a packet of paracetamol, please! (Aftenposten)

Starting this autumn you will be able to buy headache pills and other medicines at petrol stations and supermarkets. The Ministry of Health has approved plans to abolish the chemists’ monopoly on the sale of non-prescription pharmaceuticals, and has estimated that around 1,400 retail outlets will apply for permission to sell such items. Ministry officials did not think that many petrol stations would apply – a big mistake, according to the industry itself.

Time to take his hat and go? (Vårt Land)

After 35 years in the service of road safety, the man with a hat could be about to disappear from the country’s pedestrian crossings. Gender Equality Ombud Kristin Mile thinks it is high time he was replaced by a gender-neutral figure. But she admits that the eradication the man with a hat is not one of her most pressing equal opportunities battles. “But it is an important signal. The Public Roads Administration should follow the lead provided by other European public road authorities, which have substituted a line drawing of a figure with a round head for the traditional man with a hat,” said Ms Mile.

Worth Noting

• Council workers, shopworkers and healthcare personnel cannot demand the same pay rises as industrial employees received this year, says Finn Bergesen Jr, president of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO).
  (Aftenposten)
• The row over pre-school day-care and the revised national budget is turning into a war of nerves between Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, the Progress Party’s Carl I. Hagen and Labour’s Jens Stoltenberg.
  (Dagbladet)
• Several major crime investigations in Oslo have been wrecked because the alleged perpetrators have planted false evidence and filed charges against the police officers leading the investigations. The police now want to employ controversial new methods to halt the allegations.
  (Dagsavisen)
• Gerd-Liv Valla, president of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), has lost patience with the Governor of the Norwegian Central Bank, Svein Gjedrem. Unless Mr Gjedrem gives some indication of a substantial cut in interest rates on Wednesday, the LO will lead a campaign to change the country’s monetary policy.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Norway wants to define parts of the Barents Sea as environmentally sensitive. This would force Russian oil tankers to sail 50 nautical miles off the coast of northern Norway. Norway could then also set standards for the tankers’ seaworthiness and for reporting procedures.
  (Aftenposten)
• According to the OECD, it is too easy to stop working in Norway. The organization says we should tighten up the incapacity benefit scheme and the rules for ‘young’ pensioners. Norway should reduce the advantages of taking early retirement and build incentives which can motivate people to stay in the workforce for longer.
  (Verdens Gang)
• Cash-strapped small Norwegian private banks are offering extremely high interest rates on deposits to attract customers. Bjørn Skogstad Aamo, head of the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission, is dubious about the practice.
  (Aftenposten)
• 11 of the Conservative Party’s 17 branch chairmen are disappointed that the party supported the new anti-smoking legislation. But they are otherwise unanimous in their delight at being in government office. The Conservative Party’s annual conference will be held this weekend in Stavanger.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Oslo’s distinguished and historic Grand Café was forced into liquidation yesterday at the insistence of its supplier of napkins and tablecloths. 55 employees were left without a job when the restaurant closed its doors yesterday. There are hopes that new owners can be found to resume operations.
  (Verdens Gang)

Today’s comment from Dagsavisen

Demanding a vote of confidence is the strongest weapon a government can use to bring an unruly Storting into line. It should therefore not be abused. Sometimes it can be absolutely unavoidable if a government is to exert its authority, but its power will be exhausted if it is used too often. It will fly back to hit the administration like a boomerang. The Storting’s exaggerated taste for meddling in the government’s business has grown worse over the years. In our opinion, it is deeply worrying – both from a parliamentary point of view and as a matter of principle – that the opposition has in practice, by means of its pre-school day-care agreement, robbed the Government of responsibility for pre-school day-care. We can well understand that the Prime Minister dislikes such a practice and that he wants to put the Storting in its place. But if that is the case, he should have done it last year when the Socialist Left Party, Labour Party, Centre Party and Progress Party voted through the pre-school day-care reform package against the Government’s will. He did not. The PM gave way to the Storting. And now it is too late to put his foot down. If Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik demands a vote of confidence over pre-school day-care reform, it will not have the desired effect. The parliamentary majority will interpret it as a request for his administration to be relieved of its responsibilities – and that request will be granted. No Norwegian prime minister has demanded so many votes of confidence as Kjell Magne Bondevik. Nor has any other threatened to do so on so many occasions. The PM must stop demanding votes of confidence whenever the fancy takes him. It is frivolous and creates the impression that he would really prefer to resign. And he would not want to do that, would he?