CENTRE ALLIANCE PARTIES CALL FOR GREATER USE OF OIL REVENUES (Dagsavisen)

The majority of representatives in the Storting are willing to pay for patients to receive operations at hospitals abroad. In addition Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen says there should be room to spend NOK 2 - 5 billion more of the country’s oil revenues than the Government has proposed in its budget for 2001.

CALL FOR RENEWED DEBATE ON GAS-FIRED POWER STATIONS (Aftenposten)

The centre alliance parties have not forgotten that the previous government was ousted over the gas-fired power station issue. They have now renewed their campaign in order to prove that they were right all along. With the support of the Socialist Left Party they raised the matter with Labour leader and Foreign Minister Thorbjørn Jagland at Wednesday’s question time. Recent comments by the leader of the European Environment Agency are a key issue in the debate.

JAGLAND CHALLENGED BY RECORD SUPPORT FOR OPPONENTS OF EU MEMBERSHIP (Nationen)

Those representatives in the Storting who are opposed to Norwegian EU membership have called for Foreign Minister Thorbjørn Jagland to clarify what he means when he says that the Government will not apply for EU membership until a significant majority of the country’s electorate is in favour. But Mr Jagland refuses to specify what that figure might be. According to Nationen’s latest EU opinion poll, supporters of EU membership have a long way to go. 56.5 per cent say no to EU membership, while the number of those supporting membership has fallen to 34.9 per cent.

JENS FORCED TO BACK DOWN (Dagbladet)

Kjell Magne Bondevik is holding a metaphorical gun to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s head. In reality the Prime Minister has the choice of backing down completely in the face of the centre parties’ budget demands or handing in his government’s resignation. Mr Bondevik is out for revenge following this spring’s bitter defeat over the gas-fired power station issue, which forced him and his government from office. The Labour Party will have to abandon its most dearly-held budget proposals or there will be a political crisis.

SUBSTANTIAL CUT (Verdens Gang)

Tormod Hermansen can finally smile behind his trade-mark moustache. Telenor is ready for listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange. But the smile may be a little crooked. The value of the Norwegian telecom giant has fallen dramatically – probably to between NOK 100 billion and NOK 110 billion. That is significantly lower than previous estimates. The sharp fall in telecom shares which the world’s stock markets have experienced in recent months has resulted in more than NOK 50 billion being knocked off the value of the company.

OILING THE WHEELS AT NSB (Dagens Næringsliv)

Olav Fjell, newly appointed chairman of the national railway company NSB, will be attempting to find alternatives to state subsidies in his efforts to provide a better product. The chief executive of Statoil was appointed chairman of NSB at an extraordinary general meeting of NSB BA. The previous board was sacked just less than three weeks ago. "My starting point for taking the job is that Norway needs a railway service. It is impossible to run a railway company in Norway without the public sector buying a substantial amount of the services it offers. Private demand is not enough. But we must discuss the scope of what the public sector is to buy," says new NSB chairman Olav Fjell.

CONFEDERATION OF NORWEGIAN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY TO STOP PARTY CONTRIBUTIONS (Aftenposten)

Yesterday the executive committee of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) voted to gradually stop making financial contributions to political parties over a five-year period. According to Finn Langeland, head of communications at the NHO, the executive committee feels the organization’s interests are best served by not being closely identified with any of the political parties. This year the Conservative Party received NOK 4.2 million in contributions from the NHO, while the Christian Democrats received NOK 750,000. The Progress Party received NOK 150,000 in contributions from the NHO in 1999, but has not applied for or received any support this year.

WORTH NOTING

1. Norwegian power stations are producing record levels of electricity. A particularly wet year has resulted in record levels of production and exports, and still the reservoirs remain well filled. However, consumers should not count on electricity becoming any cheaper. (Aftenposten)
2. The Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission’s board agrees with the Commissions earlier findings that former Storebrand chief executive Åge Korsvold broke the law when he signed a stock option agreement with Steen & Strøm. Investigations are still underway to discover whether Mr Korsvold has broken any other laws. (Dagens Næringsliv)
3. Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen was given good marks for style, but faced 13.5 speeches of protest when he met the NHO’s executive committee yesterday. "The budget is for your own good," was Mr Schjøtt-Pedersen’s message to an extremely dissatisfied audience of business leaders. (Dagsavisen)
4. More than 700 representatives from the arts and the media have signed a petition protesting against cut-backs at P2, NRK’s radio channel which focuses on the arts and culture. The massive campaign has its roots among the universities, book publishers and musicians. (Klassekampen)

TODAY’S COMMENT FROM NATIONEN

Sylvia Brustad is in many respects a meticulous and capable politician, but she has handled the repatriation of the Kosovo Albanian refugees in a vague and clumsy manner. Neither the police nor the bureaucrats have known what was expected of them, and this has resulted in arbitrary treatment for individuals who have already been through more than enough traumatic experiences. Local Government Minister Sylvia Brustad did listen to the UN’s advice to wait until next spring before sending back homeless families with small children. But she was not clear in her instructions to those charged with carrying out the repatriations. A homeless family was therefore forcibly deported from Norway this week. Ms Brustad’s comment that it should not have happened evidence that the chaos is total. The civil service also has a responsibility to use commonsense and not act in a heartless manner. But experience shows that the bureaucratic machine is devoid of feeling. All the more important, therefore, that the bureaucrats’ political masters give them unambiguous instructions. Ms Brustad realised only yesterday that she had to make a clear decision and announce the only defensible course of action – that families with small children will not be sent out of the country before 1 March next year. A country like Norway should be generous in its decisions about whom it allows to stay on a long-term basis. This is important not only from a humanitarian point of view, but also because it increases Norwegians’ knowledge about other countries and difficult conflicts. In addition, the refugees can help us by making a contribution to the workforce.

N O R E G