This past week we have all been wishing each other Merry Christmas. Today we are wishing each other Happy New Year.

And we can indeed have a happy new year if we put the Christmas ideals into practice in our daily lives: peace and love.

These ideals cannot be taken for granted. This is obvious to anyone who has experienced their opposite: war and hate.

As a nation with a Christian cultural heritage, a commitment to peace has been one of the foundations on which we have built for centuries. This is perhaps our most significant trademark internationally.

We will continue to promote peace. Peace between nations, peace between people. But we cannot achieve peace without respect and consideration for others, without a fundamental awareness of the human worth of every man, woman and child. This is my main message tonight.

But these ideals are being undermined by certain trends in our society that I find deeply disturbing.

The number of reported crimes of violence in Norway has increased by 25 per cent in the last four years alone. This violence is often linked to alcohol and drug abuse, and it is generally the innocent and defenceless who suffer. The Government is combating the increasing brutalisation of our society on a broad front. Crisis centres will be given more priority. We will go in for harsher penalties for repeated offences and we will give priority to the fight against drug and alcohol dependence.

We will combat these brutalising trends, including bullying, by making people aware of what is happening and getting them to re-examine their values.

I find it deeply disturbing that 45 000 children are being bullied at school every day. I am not talking about trivial everyday conflicts or about pushing and shoving in the playground, but about brutal harassment that destroys a person for life. This last year I was involved in the launching of a major campaign against bullying in schools. The King also emphasised the importance of this work in his New Year speech last night. Many children have reported that adults are passive onlookers while children are harassed. This is false tolerance. Adults MUST intervene when they see someone being bullied.

A survey carried out at Maridalen School in Oslo a year ago showed that 11 per cent of the children reported that they were being bullied. The school leadership started an anti-bullying programme that has had impressive results. Today not one child at Maridalen School reports being bullied.

This shows that we can do something about bullying. Let us intensify our efforts in every school in the country. In this way we will promote the ideals of human dignity and equal worth.

We reap what we sow. When children and young people see more and more violence, bullying and brutality in the press, on videos and in computer games, it’s not surprising that we are reaping the results of this in real life. There is a great need to set limits and demand that others be treated with respect.

The word “pillory” has painful associations. This method of punishment was abolished in Norway more than 150 years ago, and for good reason. People were exposed to the scorn and derision of hundreds of passers-by for hours, sometimes days. Even though this was done in accordance with the law, it was a harsh, inhuman form of punishment.

But sometimes I ask myself whether we really have abolished the pillory. Today people are exposed to the scorn and derision of hundreds of thousands, even millions of people long before they are convicted or even tried. Day after day their names and faces appear in the newspapers or on television, accompanied by insinuations and accusations.

We must ask ourselves some critical questions about how we treat other people. Imagine a world with fewer harsh and hurtful words and more respect and consideration for each other.

We cannot appropriate funds or pass laws prescribing love and peace. These ideals can only come from the heart, from people who care about others.

There are few things that please me as much as the enormous amount of work done freely by volunteers in this country to help others. Our “night ravens” scheme is a good example. These are adults who patrol the streets at night on weekends to prevent violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and crime among children and young people. In only 10 years this movement has grown to encompass 280 000 volunteers, who patrol in 360 different areas all over the country. I would like to extend a warm thanks to all those of you who in this way so firmly and steadfastly protect the younger generation.

An important side effect of this movement is that the adults involved get to know more about young people and their world. According to the Commissioner for Children, contact with adults is at the top of young people’s wish list. This autumn the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Service has put up posters in all of Oslo’s underground trains with the text: “Hurry home. Your teenager needs you.” The night ravens are setting a good example.

We want to increase the numbers of people who devote themselves to good causes. This is why we have introduced a new measure: as from today each of us can donate up to NOK 6000 a year to approved voluntary organisations and deduct it from our income tax. Many people can testify to the truth of St. Francis of Assisi’s words, “It is in giving that we receive.” A joy shared is a joy doubled.

Our welfare depends on our country’s economy. This autumn the Government took on the onerous task of maintaining that Norway needed a tight budget. And we managed it. We wanted to do what we could to get interest rates down. And in December the interest rate did indeed go down, by 0.5 per cent. This is having beneficial consequences for individuals, families, municipalities and companies. And Norges Bank has signalled the possibility of further reductions in the time ahead.

A high interest rate and too strong a krone put jobs in danger. Combating unemployment is a priority for my government. We are therefore initiating a co-operation on income policy with the social partners. We are also reducing the taxes that companies have to pay.

We will ensure the sound management of the Norwegian economy – this will benefit us all.

We will ensure that there is job and income security.

We will intensify our efforts to help those in difficulties. We are therefore allocating an extra NOK 400 million this coming year to measures for combating poverty and improving care for substance abusers.

The causes of poverty are complex. Combating it therefore requires individually targeted measures. At the same time we will retain the best aspects of today’s social welfare system and ensure that they apply to everyone.

We will therefore further develop our social welfare services. Cheaper and more readily available child care. More local freedom of action for schools. The extra state support for care of the elderly will continue this coming year, longer than originally intended, so that more sheltered housing and more single rooms in nursing homes can be built.

Our hospitals are treating more patients. The waiting lists have been reduced. Four hundred years ago two doctors in Bergen were given money from the King’s treasury to live in the town and cure the sick. This is generally considered to be the beginning of our organised public health care system. We intend to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of public health care in Norway by continuing to give priority to the health sector, especially psychiatric care.

And we will do this by improving public health. In the old days we worked ourselves to death. Now we lead sedentary lives and eat ourselves to poor health and an early grave. Lack of physical activity may well become our greatest health problem in the future. The Government will therefore soon be submitting a report to the Storting on how public health can be improved.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We are therefore giving doctors the possibility to write “green prescriptions” – they will be able to prescribe a course of exercises instead of medicines when this is medically appropriate, as has already been tried out in certain municipalities. We are inviting groups such as sports and other outdoor recreation clubs to join forces in a broad alliance to improve people’s lifestyles and public health.

The political map of Europe has changed in the last year. The European Union has invited 10 new countries to be members. The enlargement is scheduled to take place in less than two years. The EU will change from a Western European organisation to a broader European one. This means that the European Economic Area, of which Norway is a part, is also being enlarged. We must keep a close eye on the situation and assess the consequences this will have for our country.

At the summit in Prague the NATO countries decided to enlarge the Alliance by bringing in seven new countries. Countries that were previously under the Soviet Union or members of NATO’s counterpart, the Warsaw Pact, are now entering a binding European and Atlantic co-operation. They are becoming our partners in co-operation.

This is a historic turning point. The old dividing lines in Europe have disappeared. We are building a new and more cohesive Europe.

One of the major events of the past year was the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, at which Norway played a central role. Combating poverty and protecting the environment were key goals. Now this must be followed up.

This autumn the Government will launch a national action plan for sustainable development. Promises made at international level must be followed by action at national level.

Norway occupies an incredibly privileged place in the world. We enjoy peace, freedom and prosperity. But “everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required”. I personally regard it as a lifelong obligation to take the part of the poor and the persecuted. Many Norwegians are eager to help people living in poverty and misery in other parts of the world, and we want to give even more of them the opportunity to do so. We have now established Fredskorps-Ung, which will enable more young Norwegians, especially those below the normal age for the Volunteer Service, to help people in poor countries. When this initiative has got off the ground, those with more expertise and experience will have their chance. The next step will be Fredskorps-Senior, for those who are above the normal Volunteer Service age. This will provide exciting opportunities for new groups to help the needy and deprived.

In the past year we have seen fresh examples of the threat that terrorism poses to peace and to individual lives.

Norway is an active member of the international coalition against terrorism. As such, we take part in both humanitarian and military activities in Afghanistan, for which the President of Afghanistan expressed his gratitude when he visited our country just before Christmas.

This autumn Iraq’s weapons arsenal has been constantly in the news. This is not surprising, given the trail of blood Saddam Hussein has left behind him – in his own country, in Kuwait, in Israel. Not until the UN Security Council unanimously adopted new, specific demands that Iraq was to comply with did he deplore the invasion of Kuwait and allow the UN weapons inspectors to return to Iraq. Norway has strongly advocated that the conflict must be resolved within the framework of the UN. We maintain that the Security Council must consider the matter again on the basis of the weapons inspectors’ report. I continue to hope that the conflict will be resolved by peaceful means.

When President Jimmy Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on 10 December he said, “War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good.” There are many of us who share Jimmy Carter’s view. A few days ago UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan conveyed to me his gratitude for Norway’s contribution to the cease-fire and peace negotiations in Sri Lanka and the cessation of hostilities in Sudan. We also discussed the Iraq conflict and expressed our hope that it would be peacefully resolved.

Norway shall be a nation of peace. This means we must also build a culture of peace in our daily lives, and show respect and consideration for each other. We must actively combat bullying and violence and promote peace between individuals. At the same time we must, as far as a small nation can, build a culture of peace in a larger context, between nations. And we must build it on a foundation of human dignity and human rights.

We enter the new year with different emotions and under different circumstances. But we all have the same need for human warmth. As we start the new year we need the Christmas message of peace and love in our daily lives. The goal of love is not primarily to find ourselves, but to enable us to understand one another. If we can show each other a little more kindness, express a little more gratitude, we have a lot to gain.

And now on behalf of all of us I would like to send my best regards to The King, The Queen and the rest of the Royal Family and thank them for everything they have done for Norway during the year that has just ended. Last year we celebrated a princess’s wedding. This year we can look forward to the birth of a new member of the Royal Family.

I would also like to send my best regards to all Norwegians who are serving abroad, in the foreign service, in peacekeeping forces, as missionaries, in development assistance and human rights activities, on board ship and elsewhere.

I wish you all a very happy and peaceful New Year.