The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo
Press Division

Norway Daily No. 136/00

DATE: 20 July 2000

VOLLEBÆK CRITICISED BY BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE

Former OSCE chairman-in-council Knut Vollebæk is criticised by the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs in the British Parliament for his decision to pull OSCE observers out of Kosovo upon the collapse of the Rambouillet negotiations. Mr. Vollebæk points out that major OSCE members advocated an even faster withdrawal. "I withstood the pressure as long as I could," he says. He cannot recall whether the UK was among the countries advocating a swifter retreat of the OSCE observer corps.

HUITFELDT POINTS TO THREAT OF DIVISION ON EU ISSUE (Dagsavisen)

Labour Youth League president Anniken Huitfeldt calls on Labour Party leaders to shelve the EU membership issue to avoid the risk of a major schism. "Those who lost the referendum should accept defeat. Party leaders cannot direct Norway’s European policy on the basis of a desire for revenge and a replay of the referendum. With Statoil and the future of the counties, we’ve already got enough to take care of at the Labour national convention this autumn. Are you looking for an open fight over EU membership as well?" asked Ms. Huitfeldt in her opening speech at the Labour Youth summer camp yesterday.

HARLEM CALLS FOR BACKUP COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK (Dagens Næringsliv)

At next year’s Government Conference, Minister of Justice Hanne Harlem will present a proposal to develop a national emergency cellular telephone network. This telecommunications network will provide essential backup services in the event of the collapse of the ordinary telecommunications networks. It will also include emergency communications with all of the nation’s tunnels. The price tag will be nearly NOK 5 billion.

UDI SPENDS BILLIONS WITHOUT ASKING FOR TENDERS (Dagsavisen)

The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) will be spending NOK 1.2 billion running Norway’s 127 refugee reception centres this year, but the operation of these centres has never been put out to tender, as required by the rules on government procurement of goods and services. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development has now ordered the UDI to obtain competing tenders. The UDI blames the need for haste when new reception centres must be organized, but it will do as ordered.

RØKKE CLOSED DEAL WITH NO FINANCIAL ASSURANCES (Aftenposten)

Kjell Inge Røkke will have to borrow upwards of NOK 2 billion in order to finance his latest Kværner acquisition, but there is little doubt that he will get his loan. He did not discuss the matter with his main bank, Den norske Bank (DnB), before closing the deal. "No, I didn’t. We are in good financial balance, and we know we will have no problems financing this acquisition," says Senior Information Officer Geir Arne Drangeid of Aker Maritime.

SIEM SOUNDS FULL ALARM AGAINST RØKKE (Dagens Næringsliv)

Investor Kristian Siem did not mince his words in warning Kværner shareholders against Kjell Inge Røkke. "They will have to keep alert so that Mr. Røkke is not able to push his agenda through," says Mr. Siem, who feels Mr. Røkke is negatively exploiting the capitalist system. Mr. Siem controls around NOK 45 million worth of Kværner equity, but he does not say whether he will take a more active role in opposing Mr. Røkke—a fight he feels the Kværner board should lead.

WORTH NOTING

• Kværner group CEO Kjell Almskog believes the only thing Kjell Inge Røkke intends to do is sell Aker Maritime for the highest price he can get. He confirms that Kværner is now trying to find other alliance partners instead of Kjell Inge Røkke and Aker Maritime. (Dagsavisen)
• Sixty-two men have been sent to jail in the past five years for holding back child support payments. The amount owed the state has now reached NOK 3 billion; the main reason is that the number of single parents in Norway is growing steadily, and along with it the number of parents who must pay child support. (Aftenposten)
• Minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs Trond Giske, in defiance of the EU, intends to uphold affirmative action on behalf of women. His intent is to break down the dominance of men on college and university staffs. (Verdens Gang)
• Around 400 Labour Youth heard Anniken Huitfeldt’s opening speech yesterday. In contrast, only 47 people, including advisers and the press, showed up for acting Prime Minister Jørgen Kosmo’s launching of the Government’s effort to boost the efficiency of the public sector. (Dagsavisen)
• Norway’s inspectors are unable to keep tabs on the content of genetically modified organisms in food. Along with the EU, Norway is making a considerable effort to develop new and better analysis methods. (Aftenposten)
• Progress Party leaders Carl I. Hagen, Siv Jensen and Terje Søviknes are making a concerted effort to unseat MP Øystein Hedstrøm next year. They feel it will be impossible for Progress to become "acceptable" as long as Mr. Hedstrøm is among Progress’s MPs. (Verdens Gang)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Aftenposten

After the former Finnish president, Martti Ahtisaari, withdrew his candidacy for the post of UN High Commissioner for Refugees, our own former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Knut Vollebæk, has become a potential candidate. He confirms, with diplomatic modesty, that he is "available for the job". This is a candidacy to which the Stoltenberg Government should lend its full support. Mr. Vollebæk deservedly won widespread acclaim at home and abroad for his performance in the diplomatic arena during his two years as Norway’s Foreign Minister. His involvement in the plight of refugees has always been sincere and strong, and in this position he would be able to devote himself completely to humanitarian efforts. There is no assurance that his candidacy will be successful; after all Thorvald Stoltenberg held this post from 1989 to 1990. But Mr. Stoltenberg Sr. was widely criticised for leaving the job after only one year to become Minister of Foreign Affairs in Gro Harlem Brundtland’s Government. If this is held against Mr. Vollebæk, we will have to provide guarantees that it is highly unlikely that he will be called back to his former ministerial post.

N O R E G