The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo
Press Division

Norway Daily No. 153/00

DATE: 14 August 2000

CENTRISTS AS DIVIDED AS LABOUR (Aftenposten-Sunday)

The Centre Party does not want to put care services for the elderly out to tender. The Christian Democrats are sceptical, but the Liberals are open to the idea. When it comes to competitive bidding, the structure of the county level of government administration or the privatization of Statoil, the centrist alliance is no less fragmented than Labour on weighty political issues—and they admit it. "We are three different parties where Labour is only one. Three parties with diverging viewpoints is not as strange as one party pulling in different directions," says Kjell Magne Bondevik (Chr.Dem.).

"NEW LABOUR" WORKING TOWARDS A NEW NORWAY (Dagsavisen-Sunday)

The draft of Labour’s party programme for the coming electoral term targets major overhauls in the democratic process, government administration and in the party’s own organization. The fate of the counties has not yet been decided, but hospitals are to be moved from the counties to a national level of administration. Labour’s executive committee will discuss a number of controversial proposals tomorrow for inclusion in the draft party programme. The main items so far are: increased focus on day-care and education, creation of a national hospital administration, a boost in health funding and modernization of government administration.

JAGLAND TAKES ACTION (Dagbladet-Saturday)

Labour Party chairman Thorbjørn Jagland is now working hard to clear up the internal controversy within the party surrounding privatization of health and care services. The executive committee will discuss the matter on Monday, and Mr. Jagland and other party leaders are working on formulations designed to pull the party together and carry it through the national convention in November. Mr. Jagland will take definitive action to clarify the party’s stand on putting health and care services out to bid.

EU APPLICATION IN PARTY PROGRAMME (Dagsavisen)

The draft political programme from the Labour party committee goes a fair way towards making provision for an application for EU membership in the coming electoral term. The wording is as follows: "If, in the coming electoral term, there is reason to make any changes Norway’s relations with the EU, the Labour Party will deliberate the issue at a national convention, and depending on the outcome, may recommend that a new referendum be held." The document thus reveals the programme committee’s view that a new application could come before 2005. The committee reasons that there must be room to manouevre on the issue of Norway’s form of association with the EU.

FEW NORWEGIANS WANT TO CARE FOR AGING PARENTS (Nationen)

Only 28 per cent of Norway’s population would consider taking care of their own ailing parents. 58 per cent would try to get them into a nursing home instead, according to a recent survey. Despite this indication, the number of people receiving caregiver payments has doubled since 1994 and was up to 5,088 persons at the end of last year. Caregiver payments are provided for in welfare law, and eligibility is decided at the local level.

LEAD SHOT NOW BANNED IN NORWAY (NTB)

A debate that has been going on for ten years between hunters and the Ministry of the Environment has now been concluded with a decision by the Ministry to ban the use of lead shot. Although the probability of the ban has long been recognized, hunters will not have to dispose of their lead shot this year. "We can accept a three to five-year transition period. Even so, we will be one of the first countries in the world to ban lead shot entirely," says State Secretary Stein Lier Hansen of the Ministry of the Environment to the NRK newsroom.

WORTH NOTING

• Striking day-care workers have returned to work in Oslo, but the strike continues in the rest of the country. Chief negotiator Ellinor Gilberg of the Norwegian Union of Teachers urges parents to put pressure on the Norwegian Association of Local Authorities (KS) to raise its offer. (Aftenposten-Sunday)
• Over nine hundred additional members of the Norwegian Union of Teachers will walk off the job on Monday, bringing the number of children affected by the strike up to 15,000. Teachers make it clear that the strike will be stepped up if necessary. (Dagbladet-Saturday)
• With 32 out of 56 board members coming from the greater Oslo area, the urban southeast dominates corporate boardrooms in the six largest companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, despite the fact that the corporations themselves are scattered all over the country. Former DnB chief Egil Gade Greve takes a critical view of the situation and suggests that it is important that corporate boards include people from other parts of the country. (Nationen-Saturday)
• Cuts in staff and spending will turn the Gardermoen railway division into a profit-making business. Managing director Berit Kjøll will present a schedule of measures in September to reduce operating costs by NOK 80 million, or 19 per cent. (Aftenposten-Saturday)
• The Government will appoint a special committee to assess the management of the Palace. This may result in changes in the way royal property is managed and financed. The committee will also examine the budget and appropriations for the King. This political initiative from the Government is a sensitive issue and is being dealt with behind closed doors. (Aftenposten)
• "It is time to let younger people take over," said Minister of Trade and Industry Grete Knudsen yesterday when she declined re-election, sending shock waves through the Labour Party. She has been in parliament and in several Labour Governments without a break since 1981. (Dagsavisen-Saturday)
• Public transport fares in the Oslo area have climbed 15.5 per cent in the past six months. This fare inflation is 10 times that of other products. (Vårt Land-Saturday)
• Minister of Defence Bjørn Tore Godal states that Globus II cannot be used in an anti-ballistic missile defence system. He acknowledges the disrupting effects of the controversial radar system on relations with Russia, however. (Aftenposten-Sunday)
• The value of the brand-name advertising market in Norway has grown by 61 per cent since 1995 and is set to pass NOK 12 billion this year. (Vårt Land)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Dagsavisen

The Labour Party’s executive committee will start deliberating the draft party programme for the coming electoral term today. The programme contains a number of interesting items, some of which have already been reported on. One of the proposals is to transfer the hospital system from county to national administration. Further measures include a substantial increase in health funding, as well as the possibility of private provision of caregiving services. Though the last item is still a matter of controversy, Labour is in the process of formulating health and care sector policies that will be favourably received. It is about time the major hospitals were taken over by the state and given better funding. It is to be hoped that the ignominious era of endless hospital queues so out of keeping with the staggering national revenues of recent years will soon be at an end. The draft programme is also expected to trigger a fierce debate on whether we need counties at all. It could well be that a country with a population as small as Norway’s has no need for anything more than the national and local levels of government administration. Be that as it may, this is an important matter of discussion. As are various proposals to bring the Constitution up to date, such as an amendment that would give parliamentarism official status in the text of the Constitution, and another that would confer upon the Government authority to dissolve the Storting and hold new elections. Taken as a whole, the programme committee, with Thorbjørn Jagland in the lead, has come up with an interesting programme, with proposals that should capture the interest of most people.