OPPOSITION: VAGUE SPEECH (Dagens Næringsliv)

Yesterday King Harald read the Speech from the Throne at the State Opening of the Storting. The Speech from the Throne sets out the Government’s priorities for the new parliamentary session and is normally quite general. Both Conservative Party chairman Jan Petersen and Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen characterized this year’s speech as being more than usually vague. "The Government is waiting for clarification from the Labour Party National Convention. The Prime Minister says that modernising the public sector is the Government’s most important objective, but they haven’t said anything in the speech about how they are going to do it," says Mr Enoksen. Jan Petersen complained that there had been no reference to the future of either the county administrative authorities or Statoil. Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen complained about the lack of signals from the Government about where it plans to spend more money.

READY TO WOO THE CENTRE (Aftenposten)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is unworried by the tepid response to the Speech from the Throne. Although the speech, as usual, announced a number of initiatives, it is Mr Stoltenberg’s first budget as prime minister that everyone is waiting for. He admits that his new role is more taxing because he must stand firm in the face of demands from the various government ministries. The aim is to establish an agreement for the coming year with the Christian Democrats, the Centre Party and the Liberals on public expenditure and fiscal policy. "On important areas they will have more to gain from us than from cooperating with the Conservative or Progress parties," says Mr Stoltenberg. He expects negotiations to be tough.

BROKE THE LAW (Dagens Næringsliv)

The preliminary findings of the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission are a blow to Åge Korsvold and chairman Jon R. Gundersen. The Commission says that Mr Korsvold broke the law when he signed a stock option agreement with Stein Erik Hagen’s company, Steen & Strøm. The announcement came barely an hour after the Board of Directors of Storebrand had approved the agreement. "It’s not even close to being in a grey area," said chairman Jon R. Gundersen. The case may be sent to the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime.

MAY REVEAL MORE WRONGDOING (Aftenposten)

According to the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission, Storebrand boss Åge Korsvold broke the law when he bought an option for Storebrand shares. Several aspects of the option deal are now under investigation. Neither Mr Korsvold or chairman Jon R. Gundersen will say what consequences the Commission’s criticism will have. Powerful friends, as well as Storebrand owners, are still expressing support for Mr Korsvold. Reactions from business leaders and politicians are divided. President of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry, Leif Frode Onarheim, says that the Korsvold issue is weakening the public’s confidence in Norwegian business.

JAGLAND’S PROMISE (Nationen)

Thorbjørn Jagland has promised the food processing industry that it will be included in the negotiations on customs tariff relief for processed agricultural products from the EU. Mr Jagland also promised that controversial EU directives will be debated in the Storting. "Both sides must be prepared to compromise," says Mr Jagland. He promises to postpone approval of the food additives directive until the European Court has made a decision on the Netherlands’ protest.

UNDERESTIMATE OIL REVENUES (Klassekampen)

Once again we see that Norway’s oil revenues are higher than the estimates from the Finance Ministry. Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (NCTU) chief economist Stein Reegård says that the Government systematically underestimates Norway’s oil revenues. According to the oil companies, the average price of North Sea oil this year will be the highest for 16 years. The price will probably be NOK 253 per barrel. That is twice as much as the Government predicted when it presented its budget last year, reports NRK, the Norwegian public service broadcasting company. We have got used to hearing this kind of announcement in recent years. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions points out in a recent report that the Government has systematically underestimated the size of the country’s oil revenues. "The underestimation may have been partly deliberate and tactical (…)" writes Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions chief economist Stein Reegård in the report.

WORTH NOTING

1. Norwegian oil revenues will far from cover the country’s future pension obligations. We are NOK 1,000 billion short. The figures are enormous and unimaginable, but people – both politicians and ordinary folk – should have them in mind when today’s budget cup overflows with oil billions and honey. (Verdens Gang)
2. This year’s Speech from the Throne is both short-sighted and without vision. It is proof of a government that doesn’t dare to make hard choices, says philosopher Inga Bostad. (Vårt Land)
3. The Government this week gives an unofficial go-ahead to start the process aimed at floating Telenor by 11 December at the latest. If the schedule does not hold, the Government will have to pump new billions into a private placement. (Aftenposten)
4. In the past 50 years the number of farms in Norway has fallen by around 142,000. The agricultural bureaucracy, on the other hand, remains. The Ministry of Agriculture alone accounts for 190 jobs. Under the ministry there are a number of institutes and agricultural departments, representing 2,300 jobs. On top of that, there are all those employed at agricultural offices at local authority level. All in all, there are probably well over 4,000 people working in the agricultural bureaucracy. (Nationen)
5. Statoil has invested NOK 40 million in a huge new electronic marketplace for oil and gas industry procurement. 15 oil companies, with a total procurement budget of around NOK 1,500 billion, have joined forces. Statoil alone has a procurement budget of NOK 30 billion and expects to save between NOK 600 million and NOK 1 billion from procurement over the internet. (Aftenposten)
6. Not since 1950 have so many wolves been killed in Norway, and not since 1923 have so many bears been killed. But predators have killed more farm animals than for many years. (Nationen)

TODAY’S COMMENT FROM DAGSAVISEN

Behind the many fine words in yesterday’s Speech from the Throne it is possible to detect an invitation to the political centre to cooperate with the Stolteberg government. The centre alliance’s first reaction was positive. But it is only when the budget is published today that the invitation to cooperate will take concrete shape. After yesterday’s Speech from the Throne, the Government needs to present the Storting with a budget with a clear centre-left profile. The Speech from the Throne is written for the politically literate, for parliamentarians who can decipher the speech’s code. Over the years the speech has become watered down as a political document. Today the Speech from the Throne must be studied with a microscope and much must be read between the lines if its direction is to be understood. The point of a Speech from the Throne is to describe the main themes of the Government’s policies. It is never provocative. In that respect it is typical that all the controversial issues in the Labour Party programme have been left out. For example, the speech makes no reference to the privatization of Statoil, ownership of the hospitals or the future of the county administrative authorities. Nor did the Government underline the need to maintain its freedom of movement with regard to the EU.

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