FUEL SUPPLIES COULD RUN OUT TODAY (Dagsavisen)

Petrol could quickly disappear from the Norwegian market if consumers continue to hoard. Many service stations risk selling out their entire stock by the end of the day. The truckers’ blockade of eight central petrol depots will commence tomorrow, and with this, deliveries of petrol to all service stations in southern Norway will come to a halt. The aim of this action is to force the authorities to do their part in reducing petrol and diesel prices. Police will not interfere as long as blockades do not impede normal public traffic.

NO ONE’S FAULT BUT LABOUR (Aftenposten)

Socialist Left party chairman Kristin Halvorsen says Labour has only itself to blame for the current voter flight to the Progress Party. She has no intention of forming an alliance with Labour against the Progress Party. "What is taking place now is not primarily a wave of popularity for the Progress Party, but a deep-seated discontent with Labour. Collaboration with the Labour Party is not an attractive option for us, and it does not seem to be so for centrist parties either," says Ms. Halvorsen.

NORWAY RISKS RUNNING AFOUL OF THE EU (Verdens Gang-Sunday)

Norway runs the risk of an EU boycott if the Progress Party is included in a coalition government after the next general election. The EU is now drawing up rules which could put Norway under the same isolation that Austria was subjected to. "I can’t let that bother me," says party chairman Carl I. Hagen, who feels his party is the target of malicious gossip by European journalists who have not done their lessons.

STATE RISKS COURT ACTION IF IT PERMITS GAS-FIRED POWER PLANTS (Dagsavisen)

An alliance against gas-fired power plants is considering taking court action against the state if Naturkraft is allowed to build thermal power plants. They take the view that Norway’s anti-pollution legislation does not leave room for allowing higher emissions of CO ₂ and NO _x. Minister of the Environment Siri Bjerke says she will decide on the matter by the end of October.

HOSPITAL DIRECTORS UP IN THE AIR ON NATIONAL HOSPITAL STRUCTURE (Dagens Næringsliv)

Minister of Health Tore Tønne has only one-quarter of Norway’s hospital directors behind him in his aim to bring hospitals under national administration. On the other hand, only a quarter of them support county administration. The remaining directors do not know what they would prefer.

CHURCH COUNCIL

The National Council of the Church of Norway does not want bishops and deans to be appointed by the state. Never before has an ecclesiastical body handed down a decision implying this degree of independence of the Church from the state. In a closed meeting, Trond Bakkevik, head of the State/Church commission, cautioned against interfering with the authority of the temporal powers to make ecclesiastical appointments.

NO FLEXIBILITY FOR FOREIGN SPECIALISTS (Aftenposten)

Norwegian employers prevented from recruiting people with specialist qualifications from abroad are at their wits’ end. The Immigration Directorate has not registered the political signals calling for increased flexibility, and is simply going by the book, in the view of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO). "One would think that the recent amendments to the regulations would lead to changes, but flexibility is still lacking. The signals from the political administration are not being followed up by the bureaucrats," says Jon Vea, director of the NHO’s international office.

NORWEGIANS SHOPPERS CONTINUE TO FLOCK TO SWEDEN (Dagsavisen-Saturday)

Growth in cross-border trade in Sweden shows no signs of abating. Norwegians will have spent nearly NOK 10 billion in Sweden by the end of the year. Cross-border trade in August was 38 per cent higher than it was in August 1999. "Alarming" is the expression used by Martin B. Dræge of the Federation of Norwegian Commercial and Service Enterprises (HSH) to describe the situation. The commercial sector now expects the Government to reduce value-added taxes on food.

WORTH NOTING

• Four Kosovars were killed and one seriously injured in a collision between a Norwegian armoured vehicle and a Lada passenger car in Kosovo on Saturday. (Dagbladet-Sunday)
• Thirty-nine per cent of union members affiliated with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) say they are willing to vote for a party that is prepared to do away with nationwide labour agreements. The Progress Party’s political programme includes the repeal of all measures regulating working hours and overtime. The party has also attacked unemployment benefits and the right to strike. (Klassekampen)
• An EEA hygiene directive provides that all wood materials used in all fish farming compounds along the coast are to be replaced with plastic. Compliance with this directive will cost enormous sums, and a number of aquaculture enterprises will be forced to shut down. (Dagbladet-Saturday)
• Norway’s health care system needs another 3,700 nurses and 600 doctors. The Directorate of Labour will now ease up on language requirements in order to facilitate the recruiting of health and medical personnel. (Verdens Gang-Sunday)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Dagens Næringsliv

Trucker spokesman Knut Enger has announced that illegal blockades will be implemented in an effort to force vehicle fuel prices down. While we are sympathetic to the plight of the truckers, there is no call for illegal blockades, and the responsible authorities should take the necessary steps to prevent them. The governments of most countries have rejected demands of this sort. Though many are concerned with the problems besetting the transport industry, politicians insist on the foolishness of capitulating to pressure from groups who possess the physical means to create chaos. This is not the way things are done in a democracy. Minister of Justice Hanne Harlem must not hesitate. It will take heavier equipment to clear trucks from the Sjursøya petroleum facilities than police use to remove conservationists from dam construction sites and squatters from condemned buildings, but the same principles apply to both. If the police do not understand this, the political authorities should give them direct orders.

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