OFFERING NOK 70 BILLION IN PENSIONS (Aftenposten)

Norwegian businesses and the self-employed may be forced to put some or all of their employees’ supplementary pensions into a pension fund. The National Insurance Scheme currently finances this fund. This would mean that companies would be required to finance pension schemes to an amount of between NOK 30 and 70 billion. In return, payroll taxes will be reduced correspondingly in order to compensate for employers’ increased expenses. This proposal will be discussed today at a meeting between Finn Bergesen, the head of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry, and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. The Government will most likely not have a concrete proposal ready until 2002.

FATHERS EAGERLY ANTICIPATING JOINT CUSTODY (Dagsavisen)

A long line of fathers are waiting to demand joint custody of their children when a new amendment to the Children’s Act enters into force. Each year the parents of almost 15 000 children divorce, and many cohabiting parents also part company. Many parents will demand joint custody due to the new legislation. In today’s situation, many fathers hesitate to go to court because they assume they would lose a custody lawsuit.

RECEIVED FREE ADVICE FROM BROKERS (Aftenposten)

Former Storebrand CEO Åge Korsvold may regret that he has such generous friends. At worst they could cost him a fine or up to a year in prison. On Wednesday afternoon the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission of Norway filed charges against Mr. Korsvold, and yesterday the charges were made public. "We have found that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that provisions carrying penal sanctions may have been violated. But we do not want to go into any more detail than that," says Kjetil Karsrud, the Commission’s chief information officer.

COHABITATION MAY BE HIS DOWNFALL (Dagens Næringsliv)

In response to being reported to the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime in Norway yesterday, former Storebrand CEO Åge Korsvold lashed out at the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission of Norway for its interpretation of the law. In Mr. Korsvold’s view, his private options agreements are not illegal. "We believe that the Commission is incorrect both in its interpretation of statutory provisions and in regard of the facts, and has consequently arrived at incorrect conclusions," says Mr. Korsvold’s lawyer, Else Bugge Fougner. However, Mr. Korsvold and Ms. Fougner have not mentioned the fact that Mr. Korsvold has probably broken the law as a result of his cohabitation with Storebrand director Anita Bemer.

WANTS TO ESTABLISH A SPECIAL COMMISSION TO COMBAT MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE (Dagbladet)

Director General of Public Prosecutions Tor-Aksel Busch wants the police and the prosecuting authority to be completely excluded from participating in criminal proceedings in cases that are being reopened as a result of claims of miscarriages of justice. Mr. Busch wants a special commission consisting of five full-time officials to deal with these cases. There would be a long queue of court cases waiting for a commission of this sort. During the period from 1989 to 1995, as many as 1294 people may have been convicted on the basis of insufficient evidence.

109 MUNICIPALITIES REFUSE TO ACCEPT REFUGEES (Nationen)

Never before have so many Norwegian municipalities refused to accept refugees. Fifty municipalities have refused outright, while 59 could not even be bothered to answer the request they received from the Directorate of Immigration (UDI). This means that 3000 refugees who should have been given a home will be spending Christmas in a refugee reception centre instead. "This is disappointing. It is just not good enough for the municipal authorities to say that they have no homes," says Atle Berge at the UDI.

NEW CITY GOVERNMENT IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL (Dagsavisen)

On Wednesday the Conservatives, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals will form a new city government in Oslo. These three parties, supported by the Progress Party, will open the way for large-scale privatization and contract bidding in the nation’s capital. Yesterday evening Labour and the Socialist Left realized that they had lost the battle for power in the Oslo City Government. Oslo’s new Chief Commissioner will be Erling Lae of the Conservative Party.

WORTH NOTING

• With the aid of modern technology, hospitals will be able to monitor patients who have been sent home. Next autumn a pilot project will be started in Alta, in which health care personnel will monitor heart patients in their own homes. ( Dagsavisen)

• Yesterday Åge Korsvold was reported to the police. He had been poised to become the most powerful business leader in the country. But then his shady options deal was revealed, and the downhill plunge was inevitable. ( Dagbladet)

• The Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission believes that Sundal Collier & Co violated the rules of good business practices by providing brokerage services to Åge Korsvold for free. ( Aftenposten)

• The Storting is allowing the Muslim community to conduct public calls to prayer, but is open to the possibility of local restrictions. Only the Progress Party is calling for a complete prohibition. ( Vårt Land)

• The Norwegian Food Control Authority is worried that flood waters may pollute sources of drinking water in southern and eastern Norway. The Authority is now asking all local authorities to check the drinking water in their areas. ( Aftenposten)

• Yesterday morning the sun actually managed to peek out from behind the clouds for a few short moments in Oslo. But this encouragement for rain-weary residents of the capital was short-lived. The weather report calls for more rain, and plenty of it, in eastern Norway for at least another week. ( Dagsavisen)

• Remember the date: 23 November, 2000. It will go down in history. This was the day when Oslo exceeded Bergen’s precipitation record for the month of November. And there are still seven more days before the month is over. ( Vårt Land)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Nationen:

Talk of a coalition between Labour and the centrist parties is as pointless as it is utopian. Although the two groups agreed last weekend on a fiscal budget for the coming year, this does not mean that they are really satisfied with all the details of the budget compromise. After all, this is the nature of a compromise. Since the centrist parties have stated that they will enter the next election as a coalition, perhaps we should also refrain from discussing who they will cooperate with if they do not succeed.

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