NSB LAX ON STANDARDS (Aftenposten)

The Norwegian State Railway (NSB) did not adhere to international standards regarding the type of steel to be used in the axles of the high-speed airport shuttle trains and Signatur trains ordered in 1995 and 1997 respectively. NSB officials had some idea of the cause of the problem when axles started failing on Signatur trains this summer, but they kept this knowledge to themselves. According to ADtranz, the Signatur trains could have been supplied with axles built to the new European standards, which is what the NSB’s own experts wanted, but this would have delayed delivery by up to six months.

QUICKER SERVICE FOR WHITE APPLICANTS (Dagsavisen-Sunday)

The Immigration Directorate (UDI) spends as much as three times the amount of time on applications from dark-skinned people as it does on white applicants. Americans and Europeans receive replies after four or five months, but Africans and Asians must wait for over a year. The UDI explains that it has undergone a period of reorganization.

STOLTENBERG GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO TIGHTEN THE BUDGET (Dagsavisen-Saturday)

Next year’s fiscal budget will be even tighter than this year’s. The Government says this is necessary in order to avoid interest rate increases. Defence, agriculture and the transport sector will be hardest hit. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will not disclose any details, but emphasizes that they must keep the budget tight enough to prevent rising economic pressure from pushing interest rates up.

IMPRESSIVE GROWTH IN FISH FARMING (Nationen)

Production of farmed fish continues to grow. According to recent figures, the sales volume of farmed salmon rose over 150 per cent between 1993 and last year. Figures for the same period showed a 600 per cent increase for farmed trout. Preliminary figures from the Fisheries Directorate’s fish farming statistics demonstrate the industry’s prodigious sales growth. A growing number of concessions is also part of the explanation for this increase.

LOWER REQUIREMENTS MAY BRING LOWER INTEREST RATES (Aftenposten-Sunday)

Lower interest rates could be the result if the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission reduces the capital adequacy requirements to be met by banks. Two years after the Ministry of Finance introduced stiffer standards, the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission now proposes to let up on the requirements. Banks which offer private and business mortgages may look forward to lower capital adequacy requirements.

LET SHARE VALUE DETERMINE EXECUTIVE SALARIES (Aftenposten)

Assistant professor Knut Sagmo of the Norwegian School of Management (BI) in Oslo urges corporations to pay their senior executives index-regulated salaries and drop such perks as shares and options in the company. Tie a 50 per cent component of executive salaries to the corporation’s stock-market rating instead, he advises, suggesting that this could put an end to insider trading in the Norwegian stock market.

CHR.DEMOCRATS MAY DECIDE DIVIDENDS TAX (Aftenposten-Saturday)

A Government bill to tax dividends looks like it may command a majority when it comes up in the Storting. The Centre Party and the Socialist Left approve of the measure. The Christian Democrats will be in a position to tip the scales either way, but they are likely to support the measure if certain conditions are met. For one thing, double taxation must be avoided; taxation of dividends at the hand of the individual receiver must be offset by some sort of reduction in business taxes.

WORTH NOTING

• Crown Prince Haakon will be the first Norwegian royalty to enter into a cohabitation relationship without the benefit of a wedding ceremony. It was confirmed by the Palace yesterday that the Crown Prince has bought a flat in a central location in Oslo where he will live with his girlfriend, Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, and her son. (All newspapers-Sunday)
• Crown Prince Haakon’s decision to live with his girlfriend is not countenanced by the Church. But several bishops decline to criticise the Crown Prince for setting up house with his girlfriend and her son. (Dagbladet-Sunday)
• The government Biotechnology Board recommends that cellular material and tissue from aborted foetuses may be used in research and medicine. This recommendation is likely to spark passionate debate. (Verdens Gang-Saturday)
• Around 4,000 mentally ill substance abusers receive inadequate help from the welfare system. They do not receive the help they need, and one in five have no place to live, according to a recent report. (Dagsavisen-Saturday)
• "The Government’s policies are more in keeping with the Progress Party’s political programme, so it is only logical that the voters prefer the original," says Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen. Mr. Enoksen does not believe Prime Minister Stoltenberg will be able to turn the voters around and win them back. (Nationen)
• Norwegian teenagers will spend over one billion kroner on the mobile telephone market this year. Mobile phones will be common among six-year-olds in the not-too-distant future, according to analysts. (Dagens Næringsliv-Saturday)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Aftenposten

Throughout the 1990s, Labour Governments considered it a virtue to pursue fiscal responsibility in their political programmes. This policy has been good for the country and good for the party. The Stoltenberg Government wishes to continue in this tradition, but the political and economic realities are no longer the same. Traditional political standards of fiscal responsibility are now viewed by the public as an official policy of miserly penny-pinching, and this is having a noticeable impact on Labour Party ratings. The impact on the country could also be damaging if the next general election leaves the Storting even more chaotic and divided than it already is. It is still responsible policy to resist quick and easy solutions to the difficult and complex problems we face. But responsibility becomes too heavy a burden to carry when unaccompanied by clear and credible evidence of the ability and will to tackle the problems in a convincing way. What is worse, though, is that people may lose their respect for fiscal responsibility as an essential element of political endeavour. The threat inherent therein has a much wider address than the Labour Party alone.

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