STOLTENBERG IN FREE FALL (Verdens Gang)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s popularity is plummeting. Less than one in every five voters rates him as doing a good job. Never before have so few voters been satisfied with Norway’s prime minister. While 46 per cent thought Mr. Stoltenberg was doing a good job in April, only 17 per cent feel that way now. "What I have to say about this poll is the same as the other polls: they are not good enough. The challenge is to do something about it before the elections," says Mr. Stoltenberg.

CONSERVATIVES AIM FOR NOK 40 BILLION IN TAX CUTS (Dagsavisen)

The Conservatives aim for sweeping tax reductions in the next few years. Their goal is to bring the level of taxation down to EU levels, which will entail NOK 35 - 40 billion in tax cuts. Taxes on diesel will be the first to come down. Following that, income tax is targeted for reduction, the tax on assets will be repealed and the threshold level for the surtax originally intended for high income brackets will be raised to exempt ordinary wage income from this tax. "This is a very ambitious programme. We can never know precisely what we will be able to accomplish, but it is imperative for us to harmonize our taxes with EU levels. If we don’t, we will see more taxpayers moving their tax homes, cross-border trade will continue to climb, and above all, tax revenues will go down," says Conservative Party chairman Jan Petersen.

BONDEVIK DOES NOT WRITE OFF CONSERVATIVES (Aftenposten)

Former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik is maintaining his firm stand against taking part in any coalition with the Progress Party. He is not quite as categorical in rejecting the Conservatives, but he believes the centrist alliance will emerge from this autumn’s budget process intact. Like Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen, he does not want to see the Labour Government brought down over the budget.

ONLY ONE IN 100 MAY STAY (Dagsavisen)

None of the Kosovars who have sought asylum in Norway have returned to Kosovo, despite the fact that 623 applications for permanent asylum have already been turned down and only six granted. The Immigration Directorate is processing the appeals of the others. The deadline for appeal is not yet up, so it is not yet clear who will appeal and who will leave.

HÅGENSEN MAY KEEP NEXT LO PRESIDENT OUT OF LABOUR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (Aftenposten)

Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) president Yngve Hågensen has not said whether he is interested in re-election to the Labour Party executive committee. There is a long-standing tradition in the Labour Party that the LO’s elected leader also serves on this committee, but as the tradition is not based on any party statute, a seat on the committee is a personal office unaffected by the election of a new LO president. The next LO president will take office less than six months after the Labour national convention, but even so, if Hågensen accepts re-election to the executive committee in November, he may choose to sit on the committee for another two years.

ALMSKOG MOVES TO PUT CONSTRAINTS ON RØKKE (Aftenposten)

"If Kjell Inge Røkke intends to run Kværner as his own private company, he should first offer to buy out all the other shareholders. It is unreasonable for a shareholder with a 30 per cent stake to behave as if he were the sole owner," writes Kværner group CEO Kjell E. Almskog. The threat of Mr. Røkke taking control at the general shareholders’ meeting has prompted a motion by the board to require anyone acquiring more than 30 per cent control to buy out the rest.

AKER MARITIME OFFICIAL URGES DIALOGUE (Dagens Næringsliv)

Senior information officer Torbjørn Andersen of Aker Maritime does not understand Kværner’s dissatisfaction with the dialogue between the companies. So far, neither Kværner’s board nor senior management have been informed of Aker chairman and majority shareholder Kjell Inge Røkke’s intentions with Kværner. "We welcome a dialogue, but we must first establish whether they will change their offer. We see a number of ways in which we, as owners, can help develop Kværner," says Mr. Andersen.

WORTH NOTING

• It is likely that Orkla board chairman Åge Korsvold will now request the assistance of the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission and the Oslo Stock Exchange in investigating the mysterious sale of a block of Orkla shares. A new board of directors was elected yesterday by a vote of 13 to one. (Aftenposten)
• Billionaires competing for corporate power treat the employees like worthless playing pieces on a gaming board, in the view of Kværner group employee representative Rolf Utgård. His view is seconded by his counterpart in Orkla, Stein Stugu. Both call on investors to recognize their moral responsibility. (Vårt Land)
• The Conservatives are inclined to shut down the coal mines on Svalbard. Party chairman Jan Petersen considers coal mining environmentally questionable. The proposal has prompted controversy within the party, since some believe that closing the mines would spell the demise of the entire Svalbard community. (Nationen)
• Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen has greatly underrated the yield from the Government Petroleum Fund for the next few years, in the view of senior economist Stein Reegård of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). If Mr. Reegård’s projections are borne out in the long run, the Petroleum Fund will grow right through the roof. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Crown Prince Haakon’s domestic arrangements could easily be a topic of conversation around the dinner table when the King and Queen host Norway’s bishops at a dinner held at the Palace every year on 2 September. The bishops have been reserved in their comments on the fact that the Crown Prince is living with his girlfriend. (Verdens Gang)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Dagbladet

The Conservative Party presented its draft programme for the coming parliamentary term yesterday. In the century just gone by, this would have been deemed a noteworthy political event, considering that the Conservative party programme could realistically form the basis of an inaugural address. This is no longer within the realm of probability, at least in the current state of the political landscape. The best the Conservatives could hope for at this point is to barely have a finger on the steering wheel in a theoretical coalition government. The Conservatives’ foremost source of affliction is the Progress Party, of course. The other parties can reject a coalition with impunity, and that is exactly what they are doing, but this option is not necessarily open to the Conservatives, especially if the election results come anywhere near the current party ratings. Jan Petersen says there will be time to talk with Carl I. Hagen after the election, but the Conservatives will have to be much more specific than that in their campaign. The voters and the other parties, not least Progress, will demand no less. But regardless of what he says, Mr. Petersen will be stuck between a rock and a hard place. For now, though, he can find comfort in the fact that the elections are still a long way off, and he is not alone in this. Shared suffering is easier to bear, they, say, but this will provide no solution to the Conservatives’ problem.

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