PARTY REPRESENTATIVES DEMAND POLICY CHANGES (Aftenposten)

District representatives from the Hedmark Labour party, frustrated over the national party leadership’s focus on issues in which the average voter has little interest, say they could have told party leaders the course they are taking would hurt party ratings, but they were never asked. The only fault Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg admits is that he has not succeeded in getting the Government’s message across. He has no intention of adopting irresponsible policies in order to win votes, he says, and he intends to keep the party on its present course.

NHO PRESIDENT PROPOSES TO DISCONTINUE PARTY CONTRIBUTIONS (NTB)

Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) president Leif Frode Onarheim recommends the termination of political contributions. Aside from the state funding received by all political parties, the NHO and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) are the biggest contributors to Norway’s political parties, with the NHO contributing NOK 5 million to the Christian Democratic, Conservative and Progress parties, and the LO contributing a similar amount, chiefly to the Labour Party. Mr. Onarheim takes the view that the Storting should allocate enough money to keep the parties running. Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions president Kjell Bjørndalen agrees with Mr. Onarheim, but he does not believe public funding will ever be sufficient.

CALLS FOR MORE PUBLIC SPENDING (Dagsavisen)

Labour’s own campaign strategist feels Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg should spend more on health and education. "Considering the situation local governments are in , it seems imperative to carry out these allocations as quickly as possible," says Bjørn Christensen, who heads the party’s election analysis group. Mr. Stoltenberg steadfastly refuses to touch the national petroleum fund, however.

STOLTENBERG REFUSES TO BUY VOTES (Nationen)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg refuses spend the wealth accumulating from national oil revenues to buy back Labour voters. He continues to cling to the hope that responsible fiscal policies will carry Labour to success in next year’s elections. Elections analysts say Carl I. Hagen (Progress) has succeeded in portraying Mr. Stoltenberg as a miser. According to a poll conducted for Nationen, the group responsible for Progress’s inflated ratings consists largely of couch potatoes.

HAGEN NOT AFRAID OF BEING LEFT OUT (Vårt Land)

Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen has no fear of being excluded from the corridors of power after the next year’s general elections. "You can get away with pride and personal antipathies in sports clubs and mission societies, but not in national politics," says Mr. Hagen to Vårt Land. He suggests that prime ministers and finance ministers seem to be the only ones oblivious of the good sense of applying some of our petroleum wealth towards tax reductions.

NETTBANK CAUGHT NAPPING (Aftenposten)

The Data Inspectorate has given Gjensidige NOR’s Internet bank failing marks after it became known that a 17-year-old hacker had gained access to information on the bank’s customer accounts. Bank spokesmen were busy yesterday expressing regrets over the situation and reassuring the bank’s customers. According to Jon Ølnes, senior researcher officer with Norsk Regnesentral, a research institute, banks are often guilty of careless programming and quality control, and system security suffers as a result.

SHAREHOLDERS’ GROUP DEMANDS NEW GUIDELINES (Dagens Næringsliv)

Twelve life insurance companies and unit trusts comprising some of Norway’s biggest shareholders have joined forces in presenting a list of demands to the Oslo Stock Exchange. Their aim is to clean up the boardrooms of listed companies and secure the interests of shareholders. Their demands consist of a set of guidelines designed to safeguard shareholder power and influence. The new rules intend to make it impossible for management to gain a monopoly on power. The worst violations of the guidelines are to be punishable by publicity.

WORTH NOTING

• Norwegian industry must process more raw materials and sell better products. Our competitive strength must be enhanced and our research expertise developed. The Research Council and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have teamed up with commercial interests to upgrade Norway’s manufacturing industry. (Aftenposten)
• Kjell Inge Røkke’s clever manoeuvre to pay off his debts to Den norske Bank and Sparebanken NOR may be proscribed by the Companies Act, according to assistant professor Hug Matre of the University of Bergen Law School. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Orkla shareholders, disgruntled over the fact that financier Christian Sveaas was not given a seat on the board after acquiring a substantial stake, are now calling for the dissolution of the corporate assembly and the election of a new board of directors. (Aftenposten)
• Norway is the first country in the world to test a new type of cancer vaccine on humans. The vaccine may herald the birth of a new type of treatment for all types of cancer. Tests will start on 18 September on ten seriously ill patients suffering from cancer of the pancreas. (Nettavisen)
• A reform implemented ten years ago decentralizing care for mentally disabled persons has left many in this group in isolation. Developmentally challenged persons were moved out of institutions and into their own homes, but recent research published by the Research Council has shown that this reform has done little to integrate this group into the rest of society, according to the NRK newsroom. Tor Inge Romøren says that in practice, it has proven to be little more than a housing reform. (NTB)
• After a long period of overproduction of eggs, domestic suppliers are now unable to meet the demand. Norway must now import eggs from Finland. (Nationen)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Aftenposten

The most dramatic aspect of the poll published yesterday was not the revelation that the Progress Party has passed Labour popular support, but that Labour’s decline continues. When the Labour Party’s national committee meets in Oslo this afternoon, it is certain to take this survey more seriously than party leaders did yesterday. Many committee members confirm what Siv Tørudbakken of the Hedmark Labour party has said, that all over the country, morale is so low that there is no reason to expect ratings to improve. And the reason for the party’s decline is obvious: people do not understand why a country like Norway, which is earning so much money from its oil, cannot afford to provide its people with better services. It is a paradox, but Norway’s unique oil-based economy puts any Government at a disadvantage when the economy is booming. A strong economy is usually good for a government’s popularity, while conversely, a slump usually puts a government at a disadvantage. It is possible Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is making his problem bigger than necessary. His response to the poll yesterday was to declare that Labour would never abandon its policy of fiscal responsibility. We, not to mention the voters, believe him. Mr. Stoltenberg and the Labour Party have acquired a high degree of credibility when it comes to keeping a balanced budget. But voters and political competitors are increasingly taking the view that a balanced budget should not take precedence over good health and educational systems.

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