CONSERVATIVES: STOLTENBERG MAY GIVE UP (Aftenposten)

Conservative Party deputy chairman Inge Lønning finds it increasingly likely that the Stoltenberg Government may not survive this autumn’s budget debate if Labour’s unpopularity persists. "If Labour’s ratings continues to drop, or if its voter support remains extremely low, then anything could happen," he says. If the Stoltenberg Government throws in the towel in order to go on the offensive as the elections approach, he believes the Bondevik Government will most likely attempt a comeback.

PROGRESS WOULD TAKE LESS FROM OIL REVENUES (Dagsavisen)

Progress Party finance policy spokesman Siv Jensen asserts that local governments and families with children would benefit most from her party’s programme. "Our philosophy is to reorganize," she says. The latest budget proposal submitted by Progress entailed less spending of oil revenues than the budget that eventually passed the Storting. If Norway adopted the Progress Party’s finance policy, extracurricular school programmes would be more expensive, day care institutions would receive less public funding, schoolbooks would be more expensive and sick pay would be reduced substantially, but allocations to defence, police and convalescent homes would go up.

BUSINESS ABANDONING EU CAMPAIGN (Nationen)

Advocates of Norwegian membership of the EU will have to fight the next battle with substantially less financial support from the business sector. The Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) may reduce its contributions by 20 per cent starting at the end of this year. "The business sector is less interested in EU membership than it was. This is a major problem for us," says secretary general Gunnar Bolstad of the European Movement in Norway.

PROGRESS TRIUMPHANT EVERYWHERE (Verdens Gang)

With general elections a year away, Carl I. Hagen’s Progress Party is in the lead in every county except Oslo and Akershus, where Labour has held onto its position. Norsk Gallup’s political barometer shows Progress gaining 5.5 points to 28 per cent, and Labour falling 5 points to 24 per cent, sending shockwaves through Norway’s political community. Never before has Progress scored so high and Labour so low in an opinion poll. Most of Progress’s new supporters are former Conservative voters – 10 per cent of those who say they would vote for Progress today voted Conservative last year. 7 per cent voted Labour.

INVESTORS ADVISED AGAINST NORWAY (Aftenposten)

Senior economist Øystein Dørum of DnB markets advises foreign and Norwegian clients to steer clear of Norwegian securities, according to a recent analysis note. The Progress Party’s sudden surge in ratings, oil-based wealth and a Labour Government under pressure make Norway a high-risk country, in his view. Mr. Dørum predicts that Norges Bank’s executive committee may give central bank governor Svein Gjedrem orders to stop, which could send the krone exchange rate tumbling. Other economists are more moderate in their advice to investors.

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS CAUGHT IN THE PINCH (Dagens Næringsliv)

Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schøtt-Pedersen could take a huge chunk out of municipal revenues if the Government bill to tax business dividends is successful. Municipalities that own power companies stand to lose billions. News of the dividends tax has Norwegian shareholders scrambling.

NMA REJECTS AGREEMENT WITH MUNICIPAL SECTOR (Aftenposten)

The Norwegian Medical Association refuses to accept the agreement regulating the statutory personal physician scheme. According to the Norwegian Association of Local Authorities (KS), the agreement gives an average NOK 30,000 per year in raises to each doctor. Minister of Health Tore Tønne is expected to implement the scheme over the protests of the medical profession.

SUCCESSION SHOULD PASS TO PRINCESS MÄRTHA (Dagbladet)

"Crown Prince Haakon is free to move in with Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby instead of marrying her, but he should take the consequences of his choice and relinquish his status as successor to the throne to his sister, Princess Märtha Louise," says Laila Kaland (Labour) of the parliamentary Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs. The members of this committee are divided in their views on the Crown Prince’s unusual choice.

WORTH NOTING

• Norway is helping the Russians safeguard their nuclear icebreaker fleet from terrorists and against theft of nuclear materials. (Aftenposten)
• Stolt Offshore, a Norwegian company which will undertake to retrieve the bodies of the 118 crewmen trapped in the Kursk when it sank on 12 August, has been granted access to the Kursk’s sister ship. (NTB)
• Never before has so much compensation been paid out to Norwegian stockmen for alleged losses to predators. NOK 48 million was paid last year to sheep farmers, compared to NOK 44 million in 1998. (Verdens Gang)
• "I expect the next king of Norway to be married to the country’s queen," says Oslo bishop Gunnar Stålsett. (Aftenposten)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Verdens Gang

The poll published in Verdens Gang today giving the Progress Party a 28 per cent rating must be a cold shower – with ice cubes – to the other parties. We certainly hope it is, at least, because they had better wake up now. The time when epithets were the chief mode of dealing with this party is definitely over, and the refusal of parties with five per cent ratings to have anything to do with them simply looks pathetic. Indeed, this refusal is also a refusal to have anything to do with an appreciable portion of the adult population of Norway, which is absurd. It is difficult to gauge the strength of real support for the Progress Party’s political programme apart from widespread voter frustration with the other parties. It seems obvious that many are so annoyed at politicians they do not understand and whose concerns do not reflect their own that they have simply switched their support to the political leader they understand best – Carl I. Hagen. This is reminiscent of the voter movements during the EU campaign, when the pro-membership side proved unable to communicate its message to the man in the street.

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