SMALL CHILDREN TAKEN ABROAD AND LEFT THERE (Aftenposten)

Small children are being taken on holiday to their parents’ country of origin and not being allowed to return to Norway. In recent months as many as ten such children have contacted various Norwegian diplomatic missions in Africa. According to the Foreign Ministry the parents of these children do not like them having become "too Norwegian". Some of the parents suddenly claim that the children are not theirs. The children are Norwegian citizens or have valid residency permits here, yet so far no official body has responsibility for helping them, nor the funds to do it.

DANISH DECISION ON HELICOPTERS MAY COME IN DECEMBER (Aftenposten)

A decision on whether Denmark will continue to participate in the joint Nordic helicopter procurement programme will probably not be made before 14 December. If Denmark itself does not take the initiative to clarify its position with regard to the Nordic helicopter programme, the issue will probably be on the agenda when the steering committee holds its next meeting at Gardermoen 14 December.

NORWEGIAN CHILDREN HEALTH REFUGEES (Dagsavisen)

Norwegian children and their parents are fleeing to warmer climes to escape illness and health problems. The Norwegian schools in mainland Spain and the Canary Islands are so full that new applicants are having to be turned away. More than 60 per cent of the pupils at the Norwegian school on Gran Canaria are there as a result of their own or their parents’ health problems. The school is now planning to expand its facilities.

"SCHENGEN LUNCH" WITH EU (Dagsavisen)

The EU has agreed to discuss with Norway the country’s position under the Schengen Agreement before the EU countries make a formal decision on the matter. A lunch invitation from Justice Minister Hanne Harlem will prevent the EU simply riding roughshod over Norway.

MAD COW DISEASE MAY BE COSTLY FOR NORWAY (Nationen)

Norwegian companies may lose several hundred million kroner because of measures to combat mad cow disease that are being introduced by EU countries. New rules may damage exports of a number of agricultural chemicals. France, in particular, is pressing for the regulations to be tightened in order to reassure consumers. Both Norwegian businessmen and the Norwegian delegation to the EU are worried by these developments.

OIL REVENUES TO LUBRICATE SOLIDARITY FUND (Vårt Land)

It is not just consumers with large food bills that have come off best from the budget compromise. A little known agreement between the Labour Party and the centre alliance parties may also be of great benefit to the world’s poorest countries. By the end of the year Norway’s Government Petroleum Fund will reach NOK 400 billion, but the high oil prices mean that foreign aid as a percentage of the country’s gross national product (GNP) will be less than 0.8 this year, the lowest level since 1981. Both the Government and the centre alliance want to keep foreign aid at one per cent of GNP. Under the budget compromise both sides have agreed to evaluate the creation of a development fund in which earmarked allocations from Norway’s oil revenues can contribute to reaching this target.

WORTH NOTING

1. Labour Party chairman Thorbjørn Jagland is in a hurry. He told the Storting 1 November that he would not discuss developments in the EU until after the Nice summit, but the Government’s Europe report will be published on Friday. (Klassekampen)
2. The UN will appeal to its members today to support various aid projects for the world’s poor. For the next year Norway will be responsible for presenting the Consolidated Appeals for aid to Sudan and Afghanistan. (Vårt Land)
3. Orkla’s former board of directors gave chief executive Jens P. Heyerdahl a salary increase of 67 per cent this spring. His salary rose by 50 per cent the year before. Mr Heyerdahl’s new salary was agreed privately with the then chairman – the board was informed only afterwards. (Dagens Næringsliv)
4. There were plenty of empty seats on Broadway when Telenor invited potential investors to a lunch meeting in New York’s Broadway district on Monday. "I am surprised how few there were compared to the Telia presentation earlier this year," said one investor after the meeting. (Dagens Næringsliv)
5. More heads must roll in the Progress Party if party chairman Carl I. Hagen is to gain full control of the Oslo branch. Four members of the selection committee support Dag Danielsen. Next week they will defy the party chairman and propose a new executive committee which is favourable to Dag Danielsen. (Dagsavisen)
6. Within three years time Jørgen Kosmo, Labour and Government Administration Minister, will have reorganized up to 70,000 central and local government employees. (Dagbladet)
7. Norway has the worst student financing scheme in Scandinavia, with the lowest level of grants and the highest interest rates on study loans.

TODAY’S COMMENT FROM DAGBLADET

Karita Bekkemellom Orheim, Children and Family Affairs Minister, is about to change course to get Norway moving in the direction of a modern society again after her predecessor persuaded the Storting to agree to a historic step backwards. The additional cash benefit for children between the ages of one and three, always a political mistake, is under review. Comments by the deputy chairman of the Centre Party have paved the way for a change which means that the Storting may move towards limiting payment to those parents who are looking after their children full time. The minister has promised a review of the additional cash benefit before Easter. She is now gathering ammunition to scupper as much of the scheme as possible. Figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics confirm earlier warnings that the additional cash benefit would reinforce family and work patterns that are in the interests of neither children nor society as a whole. Fathers of small children are working even longer hours, and the care-giving professions are experiencing a shortage of vital employees because mothers are staying at home. A restructuring of the cash benefit scheme will also allow NOK 1 billion in increased subsidies to day-care centres so they can cut the level of fees paid by parents.

NOREG