The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 107/00

Date: 8 June 2000

NORWAY LACKS AMMUNITION FOR NEW TANKS (Aftenposten)

Norway’s 104 new storm tanks, delivery of which was completed this year, have cost NOK 2.6 billion. The only problem is that there is no money left for ammunition. Chief of Defence Staff Sigurd Frisvold has ordered a complete investigation of this procurement programme, which is one of the biggest investment projects ever undertaken by the Norwegian Army. Hans J. Røsjorde (Progress), chair of the Storting’s Defence Committee, says there is no point in buying new combat equipment without the ammunition to go with it.

HAAKON TO BECOME FOREIGN MINISTRY TRAINEE (Verdens Gang)

Crown Prince Haakon hoped to pursue further studies in Spain or the USA, but he will go through the Foreign Ministry’s trainee programme in Oslo instead. This is a solution both he, his girlfriend Mette-Marit and the Palace can accept. Starting 14 August, His Highness will be attending the Foreign Ministry’s trainee classes and taking part in study trips at home and abroad.

GOVERNMENT TO CUT STORTING OUT OF OIL POLICY (Dagens Næringsliv)

Minister of Petroleum and Energy Olav Akselsen aims to deprive the Storting of its influence over petroleum policy. Under current legislation, all offshore development projects with an investment framework higher than NOK 5 billion are subject to review by the Storting. The petroleum policy paper Mr. Akselsen will present tomorrow includes a proposal to raise this to NOK 10 billion. If his proposal goes through, most new development projects in the Norwegian oil industry will no longer require the Storting’s approval.

HERMANSEN FINALLY SUCCEEDS WITH TELECOMS MERGER (Dagsavisen)

At long last, Telenor chief Tormod Hermansen has succeeded in concluding a Swedish-Norwegian telecoms merger, though a much smaller one than the Telenor-Telia merger which foundered last year. Instead, BPA, a Swedish corporation, will merge with Telenor subsidiary Bravida, Telenor’s service and installation division with 5,500 employees. BPA is a subsidiary of Investeringsselskapet 1999 AB, a Swedish holding company. The merger will produce a major Scandinavian corporation with 14,000 employees and an annual turnover of NOK 13 billion, and will hopefully be listed on the stock exchange within three years.

MUNICIPAL STRIKE NO PROBLEM FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES (Dagbladet)

The strike in the municipal sector is not having its intended effect: hapless parents must struggle to cope without day care facilities, but local governments are happy to save millions of kroner in payroll costs. Gjertrud Eggen, organizer of the preschool teachers’ strike, sees the dilemma in the fact that the primary effects of the strike fall on parents rather than the union’s adversary, local governments.

FRIGATE CONTRACT MAY BE POSTPONED AGAIN (Aftenposten)

Defence Committee chairman Hans J. Røsjorde confirms that if Bazan cannot come to agreement with Umoe on a NOK 2 billion countertrade deal, the signing of the frigate contract could be delayed further. The largest defence contract in Norwegian history, for delivery of 5 frigates at a cost of NOK 14 billion, has already been put off twice. The contract is scheduled to be signed next Thursday.

THE STORTING GIVETH AND THE STORTING TAKETH AWAY (Vårt Land)

The Storting would rather make new mobile telephones more expensive than reduce funding to the joint ecclesiastical councils. The Church of Norway will not be deprived of NOK 25 million in this year’s budget, as the Labour Government proposed in its Revised National Budget. There has been plenty of disagreement in the Finance Committee’s budget debate, but one thing all parties agree on is not to cut the Church’s budget.

WORTH NOTING

• The Storting’s Transport and Communications committee submitted its Telenor recommendation today. All parties with the exception of the Socialist Left recommended partial privatization of Norway’s state-owned telecoms corporation. (Dagsavisen)
• Major changes in the ownership structure in Norway’s power sector are under way. The State Power System (Statkraft) has asked for a substantial increase in its equity base in order to meet the competition from foreign players for around NOK 30 billion worth of market involvements. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• The Ministry of Justice is contemplating a change in the Criminal Procedures Act which would make the state automatically liable for indemnification of suspects held in custody and later released without being charged with any crime. (Dagbladet)
• Legislation adopted five years ago to give women protection from former husbands or boyfriends has proven to have little or no effect. Many women still live in fear or at concealed addresses. Sociologists at the University of Oslo conclude that police do little and that many violent men ignore the law. (Aftenposten)
• Many people appear to be anxious that they have been under surveillance by security police at one time or another. But in nine out of ten cases examined by the Ministry of Justice access committee, not a single scrap of paper which can be linked to the person in question has been found in the archives. (Verdens Gang)
• Norwegians owe NOK 10 billion in unpaid bills. 126,708 persons, or 2.8 per cent of the population, have unsettled debts. (Verdens Gang)
• Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is a man without shame. On Tuesday he spoke warmly of Labour being the first to rectify deficiencies in the welfare society. Yet on the same day, Labour MPs rejected a tax hike on the wealthiest people in Norway. They also declined to raise welfare allocations. (Klassekampen)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Verdens Gang

Farm income statistics compiled by the Farmers’ Union are generally a manipulation of the facts, in our view, and this year’s agricultural settlement is no exception. The figures furnished by the Farmers’ Union are worth no more than the pile of manure some of its members dumped in the Government Administration Complex. The farm organizations claim the settlement they have been offered represents a NOK 5,000 drop in annual farm incomes, but the maths and the reasoning both leave plenty to be desired. The large cooperative enterprises are farmer-owned. There is plenty of scope for running them more efficiently, which would raise the overall income of the farm sector. Moreover, most farmers have off-farm incomes. As a matter of fact, most farming families earn more off the farm than they do from their farms, so there is no danger that anyone will starve or that rural communities will collapse. The gradual reduction in agricultural support must continue. The Farmer’s Union must simply recognize the fact and accept it.