CRACKS SHOWING IN LABOUR UNITY (Aftenposten)

Central Labour MPs sympathize with Thorbjørn Berntsen’s frustration with the Stoltenberg Government. Mr. Berntsen has spoken out against the Government’s interest in putting health and care services out to tender. Minister of Social Affairs Guri Ingebrigtsen and Minister of Health Tore Tønne are clearly in favour of introducing private service providers. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) is now calling on the Labour Party to give an account of itself. The privatization initiatives coming from the two ministers in the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs are something one would expect from the Progress Party or the Conservatives. And that, writes our commentator, is something many Labour and LO members find hard to swallow.

JAGLAND SCOFFS AT CRISIS ALLEGATIONS (Dagbladet)

"It makes me laugh," says party chairman Thorbjørn Jagland of allegations of impending crisis in the Labour Party prompted by poor ratings. But Mr. Jagland does not laugh off Thorbjørn Berntsen’s criticism of the party leadership, however. "When a man of Thorbjørn Berntzen’s experience and acumen says he cannot figure out what the party is up to, we had better sit up and take notice. That is an important signal," says Mr. Jagland to Dagbladet in acknowledgment of the unusually sharp criticism voiced by Mr. Berntsen in yesterday’s Dagbladet. It is unusual that the Labour Party chairman thus accepts criticism aimed directly at the Government and the Prime Minister.

BONDEVIK TO RUN FOR RE-ELECTION (NTB)

Kjell Magne Bondevik will run for a new term in the Storting as the centrist alliance’s prime minister candidate. He will also devote all of his energy to the formation of a coalition government. He does not conceal the fact many people, including Centre, Liberals as well as Christian Democrats, have urged him to continue in the Storting. Next year will be his 28th in the Storting, minus the seven years he has served as minister in three different governments.

PRIVATE INVESTMENT WILL BE GOOD FOR STATOIL (Aftenposten)

Partial privatization will make it easier for Statoil to enter into alliances in the European gas market, says former Minister of Petroleum and Energy Marit Arnstad. She continues to advocate her firm desire to sell up to 30 per cent of the government’s stake in Statoil, despite Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen’s decision to vote against partial privatization. Otherwise Ms. Arnstad says the matter of the State Direct Financial Interests (SDFI) on the continental shelf has much greater significance than the privatization of Statoil. She would be willing to distribute small portions of the SDFI to operators on the North Sea, including foreign companies, to stimulate the extraction of more oil and gas on each field.

GOVERNMENT PROPOSES TO CULL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (Dagsavisen)

The Government proposes to dissolve half the state offices, agencies and directorates as part of its goal to modernize the public sector. The first measures will be presented in the draft budget for 2001, and thousands of government employees will be affected. "It is alarming that this should be introduced through the budget, leaving employees and their organizations in the dark," says Turid Lilleheie of the Norwegian Civil Service Union (NTL).

HIGH-TECH COMPANIES BACK AWAY FROM STOCK MARKET (Dagens Næringsliv)

Panic is spreading among IT enterprises working on plans to go public. Since the stock market upswing noted in March, IT shares have plummeted over 35 per cent, representing losses of around NOK 10.8 billion. This sharp fall has alarmed senior management at high-profile e-trader Nethouse, who have shelved their plans to go public.

WORTH NOTING

• Minister of Labour and Government Administration Jørgen Kosmo believes the Government’s drive to modernize the public sector will give Labour a boost in the opinion polls. Mr. Kosmo believes a reorganization of the health care system will be the best card Labour can play in the next elections. (Dagsavisen)
• Low interest rates and EMU worries have induced many foreign investors to flee Sweden and Denmark, and a growing number of them are now placing their money in Norway. Private investors bought over NOK 9 billion worth of Norwegian interest rate securities in May. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• In a comparison between 49 European cities, Bergen was found to provide the lowest level of public funding for public transport. The level of public funding for bus services is only three per cent of the operating costs, and passengers are defecting in favour of their own cars. Oslo placed low, too. Public transport funding in Norway declined 42 per cent from 1986 to 1997. (Klassekampen)
• Starting with hardly a single customer, it took Statoil only one year to become Norway’s fifth or sixth largest supplier of electric power to the household sector. That was a year ago. Since then, one-quarter of its customers —20,000 altogether—have taken their business elsewhere. (Dagens Næringsliv)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Dagbladet

Kjell Magne Bondevik MP will run for re-election next year. He had no choice; he couldn’t leave the Storting if he was to have any credibility as a candidate for Prime Minister and if the centrist alliance was to remain viable until the election. The leaders of the other two parties have made this clear. It would be hopeless to conduct a campaign for a coalition whose leader has given notice. But although Mr. Bondevik made his position clear yesterday, an uncomfortable vagueness still clouds the political landscape. What is clear is that the three centrist parties will maintain their alliance until election day under the leadership of Mr. Bondevik. Until then they will have to turn down all suitors and all advances from other parties. But this does not mean the centrist alliance is the only alternative to the Stoltenberg Government if a change in government is in order.

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