KGB CONTACT NO PROBLEM (Aftenposten)

The National Police Security Service (POT) believes that Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s contacts with the KGB were completely harmless. They did not think it was necessary to inform him that the KGB had given him a codename. Yesterday Jens Stoltenberg was at pains to underline that all his contacts with those Russian diplomats who later proved to be KGB agents had been of a normal nature, and that he had informed the POT of his contacts. "I hope this issue will not lead to normal contact with the countries of Eastern Europe being viewed with suspicion," says Mr Stoltenberg.

STOLTENBERG CHANGES HIS STORY (Verdens Gang)

Late last night Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his staff changed their explanation of when Mr Stoltenberg broke off his contacts with KGB officer Boris I. Kirillov. While earlier in the day Mr Stoltenberg had stated that he had broken off contacts with Kirillov before he started working on the Defence Commission, it is now apparent that this did not happen until around the beginning of June 1990. The Defence Commission was created 26 January 1990.

FULL SUPPORT FOR JENS (Dagsavisen)

Political leaders, history professors and the POT are all playing down the Prime Minister’s contacts with the Russians. "In my wildest dreams I could not imagine that Jens Stoltenberg has been anywhere near to acting as a KGB agent. You have to remember that lots of people who spoke to the Russians ended up with a codename," says Oslo University history professor Knut Einar Eriksen. Leader of the Storting’s Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs Committee Gunnar Sakug (Labour) has himself been investigated by the POT. He is highly critical of NRK, the national public service broadcasting company, for its allegations regarding Jens Stoltenberg.

SERBIA TAKES OVER KOSOVO AID (Aftenposten)

The Government has proposed a major increase in the amount of aid it provides to Serbia. The increase will be at the expense of support for Kosovo, which so far this year has amounted to NOK 139 million. Just under NOK 10 million has been allocated to housing reconstruction. State Secretary Espen Barth Eide at the Foreign Ministry has already promised NOK 135 million to the new regime in Serbia, in addition to NOK 20 million for emergency measures. He says that it is in Kosovo’s best interests that Norway provides help for Serbia. The Norwegian Refugee Council is extremely critical of the planned reduction in Norwegian aid to Kosovo. "On the contrary, Norway should be intensifying its efforts," says Secretary General Steinar Sørlie. In the past two years the Refugee Council has built 1,000 houses in Kosovo.

CALL FOR NEW DEBATE ON GAS-POWERED FIRE STATIONS (Dagbladet)

The Socialist Left Party, supported by the centre alliance parties, will today make a Document 8 proposal in the hope of stopping the Labour Government’s plans to build two gas-fired power stations. The proposal follows a statement yesterday by Domingo Jiménez-Beltrán, leader of the European Environment Agency, saying that Norwegian gas-fired power stations will increase the amount of CO2 emissions in Europe. The entire issue hangs on the Government’s claim that Norwegian gas-fired power stations will lead to reduced emissions in Europe.

MASSIVE CAMPAIGN FOR SALE OF K-BANK (Dagsavisen)

This week 12,000 Kreditkassen shareholders will receive telephone calls urging them to accept the offer from MeritaNordbanken. The attitude of the company’s small investors may be decisive for whether the Finnish/Swedish bank succeeds in its bid for Kreditkassen. Yesterday Merita controlled just over 80 per cent of the shares in Kreditkassen, but to completely take over the bank they need 90 per cent. They will then be able to carry out a compulsory redemption of the remaining shares.

WORTH NOTING

• Jon Blaalid, head of the Directorate of Public Management, is to take over temporarily as General Director of Labour following Ted Hanisch’s resignation on Monday. However, Mr Blaalid says he will not be seeking the post of new General Director of Labour when the new six-year term commences in the turn of the year. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Minister of Justice Hanne Harlem wants the civil servants working in the country’s police districts out of their suits and into uniform. A slimmed down administration will allow greater resources to be used in the fight against crime. These are the main proposals in a report to the Storting which the Ministry of Justice will present just before the end of the year. (Dagsavisen)
• According to a recent opinion poll support for the Liberal Party is at 5.1 per cent, the highest level for three years. This would give the party eight seats in the Storting, two more than today. "This upward trend will just continue," says party chairman Lars Sponheim. (Nationen)
• Legal experts agree that Storebrand lost tens of millions of kroner when Åge Korsvold exercised and cancelled his golden options. "Korsvold’s options really belonged to his employer, Storebrand," says Hugo Matre, a lecturer at the University of Bergen. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Despite Norway’s foreign aid spending being at its highest level ever, there has been a steady decline in the amount of goods imported from the world’s poorest countries. Last year imports from developing countries fell by 10 per cent.
• Oslo University has earmarked certain jobs for women. This may be in breach of the EU’s equal opportunities directive. A Swedish scheme involving professorships for women was declared illegal this summer. (Dagsavisen)
• Culture Minister Ellen Horn favours high-profile Conservative, Kristin Clemet, to replace Einar Førde as chief executive of NRK. (Verdens Gang)

TODAY’S COMMENT FROM DAGSAVISEN

NRK’s Brennpunkt documentary series and the tabloid newspaper Verdens Gang have done it again. The country’s largest broadcaster and its biggest-selling newspaper have once more banded together in a cartel of harassment. Three years ago Thorbjørn Jagland was the victim of one of the most unjustified attacks in Norwegian journalistic history, when the two media giants worked together to brand him as a KGB agent. The story was hardly worth a footnote in the history books. Yesterday it happened again. Jens Stoltenberg was given a codename by the KGB, and this is being used in an attempt to portray him as a suspicious contact for the Soviet intelligence agency. As usual NRK’s Brennpunkt programme is better at self-advertisement than checking its sources, while VG has once again been brought in to play Alf R. Jacobsen’s willing stooge in his ceaseless quest for hidden skeletons. In the name of free speech all parts of the media have the right to uncover the secrets of those in power. However, another equally important principle is that the rest of the media is just as free to judge, and even criticise, the truth of those revelations. This second principle is under serious attack when two of the country’s largest media companies work shoulder to shoulder on such an insubstantial foundation. Both VG and NRK should take this matter seriously and see that their harassment cartel is disbanded forthwith.

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