STOLTENBERG STILL COUNTING ON EU MEMBERSHIP (Dagsavisen)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg cannot leave the idea of Norwegian membership of the EU alone because he has lost all faith in the EEA Agreement. "So far, our relationship with the EU has been founded on the EEA Agreement, which has given us access to the single market. But an entirely different set of challenges confronts us now, with defence and security policy and enlargement in Eastern Europe on the agenda. In these areas, the EEA Agreement has no provisions at all," said Mr. Stoltenberg at the Labour Youth summer camp yesterday.

FRIVOLD CALLS FOR NEW TANKS (Aftenposten)

Chief of Defence Staff Sigurd Frisvold calls for 52 modern Leopard tanks to be procured for the army at a probable cost of over NOK 3 billion. Lt.Gen. Frisvold feels Norway requires better tanks for taking part in international operations. An investment of this scope would be the biggest Army procurement since the Second World War.

MINISTER OF TRADE TONES DOWN PRAISE (Aftenposten)

State Secretary Britt A. Schultz’s warm approval of Kjell Inge Røkke’s acquisition of a substantial stake in Kværner last week caused some stir. "Positive" and "good for Norway" were among the statements made by her to the press in Minister of Trade and Industry Grete Knudsen’s absence. Ms. Knudsen attempted yesterday to clarify the Government’s stand on Mr. Røkke’s acquisition. It is not so much the acquisition itself that her Ministry feels is "good for Norway", but the long-term nature of Mr. Røkke’s investment, she said.

RØKKE’S KVÆRNER INVESTMENT VIEWED AS A HOSTILE MOVE (Dagens Næringsliv)

Rolf Utgård, senior shop steward for Kværner Group employees, has requested a meeting with Minister of Trade and Industry Grete Knudsen to ask her to prevent Kjell Inge Røkke from increasing his Kværner stake to 33 per cent. "We intend to make ourselves perfectly clear when we ask the Government to not to grant Mr. Røkke a concession for exceeding 33 per cent. We view this as a hostile move," says Mr. Utgård.

HAGEN TO SHINE UP PARTY IMAGE (Dagbladet)

Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen intends to streamline the party in an effort to make it acceptable to other parties as a coalition partner. He has had enough of outspoken politicians in his own party making trouble for him in the election campaign. Mr. Hagen says right out that his aim is to weed out unreflected statements, uncoordinated initiatives and disorderly political conduct. "The party needs a bit of tidying up," he says.

NSB WAS WARNED OF WEAKNESSES (Aftenposten)

A report presented to the Norwegian State Railway by Swedish risk analyst Ingemar Pålsson three days before the high-speed Signatur trains started running in 1999 concluded that minor defects could lead to major axle failure. The warning went unheeded, however—the high-speed trains operated for several months before being taken out of service after a derailing incident on 7 June.

WORTH NOTING

• NATO made the formal decision on Wednesday regarding the joint Norwegian-Danish command over KFOR operations from Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, starting in March or April next year. But NATO makes no decision as to whether the chief in command will be Norwegian or Danish, so the two countries will have to agree between themselves on the distribution of senior command posts. (Aftenposten)
• "Norway spends 0.9 per cent of its national income on development assistance. I can promise that we will increase this budget," said Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to the loud acclaim of around 400 Labour Youth yesterday. (Dagsavisen)
• Kjell Inge Røkke shops as if he were the richest man in Norway, but he still as some way to go. With a net worth upwards of NOK 5 billion, he can afford the Kværner holdings he bought last week, but he doesn’t have enough money to carry out a takeover by himself. (Dagbladet)
• ABB is keeping a sharp eye on the drama surrounding Kværner, but corporate officials decline to comment on speculations that ABB may come in on Kværner’s side against Kjell Inge Røkke. (Dagsavisen)
• Minister of Trade and Industry Grete Knudsen appeals to Kjell Inge Røkke and to Kværner’s executives to reach agreement. (NTB)
• Over 7,000 Norwegians with mental problems are waiting for help. At the same time, NOK 200 million allocated towards psychiatric treatment was left unspent last year. The suicide rate has passed the traffic mortality rate. (Nationen)
• Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen’s efforts to get rid of extremists will not make the party any more palatable to the other parties. "Policy, not persons, is what counts," says Inge Lønning (Cons.). (Dagbladet)
• Progress’s recipe for appeasement: put tax issues first, change party line on immigrants, be nicer to the Christian Democrats, and learn to compromise. (Verdens Gang)
• The first "tropical night" of the summer in Norway was registered in Finnmark night before last. The Makkaur lighthouse in Båtsfjord recorded a low of 22.7 degrees Centigrade that night. The hottest daytime temperature recorded in Norway on Wednesday was 30.2 degrees Centigrade, at Kirkenes. (NTB)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Vårt Land

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg knows what it takes to appease disappointed EU opponents and conservationists in Labour’s youth organization: a pledge to increase development assistance spending in next year’s fiscal budget. We hope this means a real boost, and that development assistance will no longer function mostly as a budget item where cuts may be taken to balance spending increases elsewhere.

N O R E G