BEIAR DEMONSTRATORS WON THIS ROUND (Aftenposten-Saturday)

Minister of Petroleum and Energy Olav Akselsen has directed the State Power System (Statkraft) to postpone construction on the Beiar hydropower project. The decision came after the chief of police in Bodø refused to stop local demonstrators. "Civil disobedience cannot have had many victories of this type," said demonstration leader Gaute Dahl. Instead of the arrest he was prepared for, Mr. Dahl was able to celebrate a victory.

PUTIN WISHES TO STRENGTHEN COOPERATION WITH NORWAY (Aftenposten-Saturday)

The Kursk tragedy has given Russia a deep resolve to prevent nuclear and other environmental accidents in polar regions. A 15-minute talk in the UN building yesterday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg seems to have given new impetus to the flagging cooperation between Russia and Norway on the prevention of environmental and nuclear accidents.

RURAL VOTERS KNOW NOT WHAT THEY ARE DOING (Dagsavisen)

"Carl I. Hagen’s political programme spells disaster for Finnmark. People do not know what they are doing when they support the Progress Party," says rural community researcher Reidar Almås. Mr. Almås believes the Progress Party is exploiting the outcry for cheaper petrol, opposition to EU membership and opposition to the protection of predators, opinions which are all characteristic of rural communities. The rural population views Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as a politician’s son with his focus on Oslo. Labour has always responded to previous waves of Progress Party popularity by attacking head-on, but party chairman Thorbjørn Jagland is pursuing a different strategy now. "My political instincts tell me that Labour must declare its own views instead of arguing with others," he says.

FISHERIES INDUSTRY GROWING FASTEST (Dagens Næringsliv)

Fisheries top the list of Norway’s fastest-growing enterprises. The computer and IT industry is nowhere near the top, according to an extensive survey done by Ahrens & Partners, a Swedish-owned company. The survey applied criteria emphasizing that growth measured in terms of income was to be long-lasting, profitable and the business over a certain minimum size. The rapid growth of this industry is fuelled by rising salmon prices which have stirred optimism and motivated investment.

FOOD PRICES UNAFFECTED BY LOWER FARMGATE PRICES (Aftenposten)

Food is getting no cheaper despite the fact that farmers are getting paid less for the eggs and meat they deliver. Calculations from the Norwegian Agricultural Authority show that falling farmgate prices are not reflected in the wholesale prices charged by Prior, the national egg cooperative, and Norway Meat for their products. An analysis of product prices from 1997 until the present reveals a widening gap between the producer’s price and the wholesaler’s price, a circumstance which becomes especially pronounced in a situation of overproduction. Producers are forced to accept lower prices, but the farm co-ops do not follow suit.

CENTRAL BANK WISHES TO STOP MONITORING CARD USE (Nationen)

Card companies are currently required to send to the central bank monthly lists of people and enterprises which have charged more than NOK 20,000 in foreign countries, but the central bank now wishes to terminate this arrangement. The National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim) considers this a useful source of information in criminal investigations.

NSB PROPOSES FEWER TRAINS, BETTER PRECISION (Dagbladet)

Norwegian State Railway (NSB) CEO Arne Wam proposes to cut down on the number of scheduled departures in an effort to improve their punctuality. There will be less focus on the NSB’s three prestige projects – the Signatur, Agenda and Puls high-speed train services. "These reductions will not affect our regular customers. We will not cut rush-hour departures. Eighty per cent of our passengers are commuters in the urban southeast, and it is this group whose confidence we aim to restore," says Mr. Wam.

WORTH NOTING

• Half a year after Kjell Magne Bondevik’s centrist coalition Government was toppled, Liberal party chairman Lars Sponheim believes Labour did not play fair on that occasion and feels Labour deserves a smack. (Dagsavisen-Sunday)
• The government may face lawsuits in the billions of kroner if the Beiar hydropower project is halted for good. The State Power System (Statkraft) and a number of subcontractors have already invested considerable sums in the project. (Aftenposten-Sunday)
• The Norwegian State Railway (NSB) approved the use of a steel quality that does not meet international standards in the axles of the Gardermoen airport shuttle train and the Signatur and Agenda trains, all high-speed trains. The quality chosen by the NSB had never been tested for this application. All rolling stock used in these trains must be outfitted with new axles at a cost of at least NOK 70 million. (Aftenposten-Saturday)
• Rabobank, a Dutch bank, owns an 8.38 per cent stake in Orkla and is now Orkla’s next biggest shareholder. Skandia no longer owns this block of shares, and Orkla officials deny having had any hand in the transaction. (Dagsavisen-Saturday)
• Who sacrificed NOK 240 million on the Orkla share transaction, and why? This is the question Orkla elegantly sidesteps in its reports to the outside world. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Gerd-Liv Valla, favourite in the upcoming elections for president of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), calls on the Government to cut out its "privatization nonsense". She feels the Government give an unreasonably negative description of the situation in the public sector. (Klassekampen-Saturday)
• Patients who already have their "personal doctor" are less satisfied than other patients, according to a recent survey. Their major complaint is that their doctor is seldom available, which is contrary to the intention of the measure. (Aftenposten-Sunday)
• Despite all the criticism of the Norwegian school system, Norwegian teenagers take top scores in literacy testing at the end of nine years of compulsory school. (Vårt Land-Saturday)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Dagbladet

France’s farmers and truckdrivers called off their oil refinery blockade after the French Government pledged to reduce fuel taxes, which demonstrates the explosive power of petrol and oil. This power may be seen in Norway, too, where expensive petrol is one of the ingredients in Carl I. Hagen’s rebellion against established politics. Petrol prices are often named among the issues which have the voters flocking to his party, but similar processes are at work in most countries. The justification used for high fuel taxes is that motor vehicles are the major source of the global greenhouse effect. The logic is that people may compensate for high fuel prices by driving less. This reasoning is apparently beyond most people, however, so any politician who is interested can turn the situation to tremendous profit with effort. They may win now, but we will all have to pay later.

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