LOW MARKS FOR STOLTENBERG (Dagbladet)

Only 14 per cent of voters feel Jens Stoltenberg is doing a good job as prime minister, according to a recent opinion poll conducted by MMI for Dagbladet. No other prime minister has ever scored this low. A comparison with polls taken over the past 20 years reveals that prime ministers who have been under worse assault than Mr. Stoltenberg have enjoyed greater support.

NO MORE FUNDING FOR RELIEF AGENCIES THIS YEAR (Vårt Land)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is turning down applications for support for humanitarian and relief work because it has run out of funds. Relief organizations report drastic reductions in this type of support. With the end of the year still four months away, Ministry officials say they have no more money to hand out. Norwegian Church Aid has received around half its normal funding amount, and the activities of the Norwegian People's Relief Association, Save the Children and the Norwegian Red Cross are all seriously affected as well.

SUPPORT FOR EU MEMBERSHIP RUNNING STRONG (Aftenposten)

The pro-membership camp maintains a 10 point lead in Opinion’s latest survey on the EU membership issue, entrenching its strong position from the previous survey. Labour voters continue to be strongly in favour of EU membership, with 64 per cent for, 28 per cent against and 8 undecided.

HAGEN UNINTERESTED IN EU DISCUSSION (Aftenposten-Sunday)

Carl I. Hagen (Progress) sees no reason to reopen the EU debate, and his party sees no reason to take any stand at all on membership of the EU. His explanation for Progress’s growing popularity is that the Norwegian people do not understand why the richest country in the world should be operating on such a tight budget that public services are in a shambles.

FINANCE MINISTER LACKS VISION (Dagsavisen)

The Government is hard put to it to explain to the voters why Norway’s burgeoning wealth should be put by for future generations while the nation is struggling with unresolved problems right now. Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen is viewed by many as a miser. "Spend it on reforms," says Prof. Øystein Norgen of the Norwegian School of Management. "Money will solve few problems by itself, but the public sector needs more money in order to increase its productivity. No other country at a similar level of development has ever put itself in this position," he says.

FOREIGN MINISTRY TO HEIGHTEN FOCUS ON EUROPE (Aftenposten-Saturday)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is restructuring in order to increase its focus on developments in Europe. Regardless of what the Eurosceptics say, so many changes have taken place in Europe since 1994 that Norway cannot remain passive, in the view of the Ministry’s political leaders. To enable the MFA to keep abreast of developments, look after Norwegian interests and keep up Norway’s influence, the departmental structure is being streamlined. Two departments are being created to handle European affairs, as well as a development policy department to secure overall perspectives in policy formation.

EMPLOYERS MUST DO BETTER AT RECRUITING ABROAD (NTB)

Director General of Labour Ted Hanisch says Norwegian employers should hone their skills in marketing the Norwegian workplace abroad in response to the shortage of labour. 17,000 job vacancies are currently registered in Norway, and according to Mr. Hanisch, this figure will continue to rise. "The labour market is tighter now than it was last year, and things are expected to get worse," he said in an interview with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) newsroom. Labour shortages are worst in health care, construction, skilled trades and road transport. Service industries are also struggling to find the people they need.

ALVIK UNWELCOME (Aftenposten-Saturday)

The Norwegian Board of Health’s handling of allegations of assisted suicide at the Bærum County Hospital may have consequences for Director of Health Anne Alvik. Minister of Health Tore Tønne refuses to comment rumours that she is not welcome back to the job after a leave of absence due to poor health, but reliable sources high up in the health care system confirm his dissatisfaction with Ms. Alvik. Whether or not she accommodates his wishes remains to be seen.

WORTH NOTING

• "Jens is an excellent salesman, but his production division is unable to supply the goods. He is good at marketing, but he has nothing to sell, and the voters know it. Splitting the offices of prime minister and party chairman between two people only makes it harder to focus on the party leadership," says elections analyst Frank Aarebrot. (Dagbladet)
• Counties and municipalities are struggling under the worst financial situation in eleven years. Despite extra allocations from the Storting, municipal and county debt will increase by NOK 12 billion this year. Psychiatric health care is the only area in which there is any improvement. (Dagsavisen-Saturday)
• All hospitals should be organized under a nationwide health care corporation with some degree of independence, though not as much as Telenor. This is the proposal put forward by Prof. Jan Grund, deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Norwegian School of Management and one of Norway’s leading authorities on the economics of health, regarding the future structure of the hospital system in Norway. (Verdens Gang-Saturday)
• Safety problems forced British Petroleum to halt production on the Valhall field yesterday. Sudden stops are rare in the history of oil production in Norway, but they inflict millions of kroner in losses on the operating company. (Dagbladet-Sunday)
• A serious defect has made it necessary for the Norwegian State Railway (NSB) to disable the tilting mechanisms on the high-speed Signatur trains, preventing their operation at speeds higher than those of conventional trains. (Aftenposten-Sunday)
• The sale of decommissioned oil and gas rigs has become a new area of endeavour for Inverse, a company formed a year ago by Telenor, Veidekke and Norsk Hydro. Inverse has recently sold plant from the decommissioned Shell refinery at Sola. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• A majority of MPs are prepared to vote for separating the Church of Norway from the Norwegian state, but there is not a sufficient majority to adopt the requisite constitutional amendment. (Aftenposten-Saturday)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Aftenposten

Today’s survey regarding Norwegian EU membership confirms that a substantial shift has taken place in popular views on the EU since the 1994 referendum. But it also indicates that the pro-membership majority is not so stable that Eurosupporters should do more at present to enhance their options. For those of us who are convinced that Norway would be better off as a member of the EU, this poll is encouraging, but nothing more. What is most interesting is not the 54.6 to 45.4 per cent ratio, but the fact that 90 per cent of the 1001 persons interviewed knew how they would vote if a referendum were to be held tomorrow. In comparison, only 71 per cent of this group knew which party they would have voted for in a theoretical general election. The fact that people have taken a stand on an issue that will not be put to the vote in the near future shows that the Labour Party leaders’ request for room to manoeuvre on this issue in the coming electoral term was not inappropriate at all. Nonetheless, it is appropriate to bear in mind that advocates of EU membership should not seek unrelentingly to hold a third referendum until there is a reasonable certainty that we will win. That certainty has yet to be established.

N O R E G