Dragging his feet over train safety (Aftenposten)

Steinar Killi, head of the National Rail Administration, has been summoned to appear before Transport Minister Terje Moe Gustavsen and explain why 24 out of 41 railway safety measures are either "delayed" or "severely delayed". 27 out of 41 directives have not been followed up. Mr Killi admits it has been difficult to meet specific deadlines, but rejects almost all of the criticism. He points out that it is difficult to improve the overall safety management system while at the same time implementing individual measures.

Donations for expelled progress party politicians (Dagsavisen)

Dag Danielsen and the other politicians expelled from the Progress Party have received anonymous cash donations to help cover their legal costs after they lost their case in the Court of Execution and Enforcement. "I am deeply grateful for this support. Unlike Carl I. Hagen we do not have a party fund behind us," says Mr Danielsen, who now sees the possibility of an appeal.

No to legal aid (Verdens Gang)

Justice Minister Hanne Harlem plans to take away the right to claim legal aid from newly arrived asylum seekers. Only after an asylum seeker has had his or her application refused will Ms Harlem allow the lawyers in. The proposal will be sent out for official consultation after the New Year, and must gain the backing of a majority in the Storting. If the minister gets her way it will be much more difficult next year for lawyers to get rich by representing asylum-seekers.

Plans to change law on appeal deadlines (Aftenposten)

Justice Minister Hanne Harlem has stated that if an individual appeals against a decision not to prosecute an offence, he or she should have the right to have their appeal reviewed by the Director General of Public Prosecutions, even if the appeals procedure has not been completed within the specified deadline. The Director General of Public Prosecutions has refused to look at several cases because the police and the prosecution service had "forgotten" to send the appeal on to the next stage within the deadline. The Director General does not intend to change his strict interpretation of the law in this matter, so the minister is proposing a change in the legislation.

Continued conflict over privatization (Aftenposten)

The Government is planning to introduce a bill for the partial privatization of Statoil this Friday, but may have to put it off until next week. The Labour Party is divided over the interpretation of the party conference’s resolution on the partial privatization of Statoil and the sale of the State Direct Financial Interest (SDFI). Petroleum and Energy Minister Olav Akselsen has been at pains to create a wide-ranging coalition in the Storting in support of the reform. It is expected that the Storting will pass the bill sometime in the spring.

NOK 3,000 extra per person (Dagens Næringsliv)

This year Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen will allocate nearly NOK 160 billion to the Government Petroleum Fund. This is the equivalent of NOK 35,000 for every Norwegian, more than NOK 3,000 per person more than he anticipated just two months ago. When Mr Schjøtt-Pedersen presented next year’s Government budget at the beginning of October he said that he could allocate NOK 142 billion to the Petroleum Fund this year.

Worth noting

• Carl I. Hagen says that 15 per cent of the shares in a privatized Statoil should be given away to ordinary Norwegian citizens, while the rest are sold or given to the National Insurance Scheme Fund. (Dagsavisen)
• Norwegian and foreign investors are ignoring Telenor. Fewer and fewer investors are trading Telenor shares. This is bad news for Tormod Hermansen, who has dreamed of gaining access to the stock market’s funds for years. If the share price and the level of trading do not improve soon, he will be in trouble. (Verdens Gang)
• Yesterday Telenor spoke out against Dagens Næringsliv’s accusation in its Saturday edition that the telecom company had paid NOK 1.8 billion to a Thai investor whose name they did not know. "We have always known who the investor was. Everything was done according to good business practice," says Dag Vangsnes of Telenor Mobile Communications. (Dagsavisen)
• So far this year there have been 40 murders in Norway. Over 70 per cent of them have occurred in rural communities. Recent statistics from the National Bureau of Crime Investigation show that there have been fewer murders in the big cities than last year. (Nationen)
• The Progress Party has lost support, but voters are not switching to the Labour Party. According to election expert Anders Todal Jensen, the Labour Party lacks a strong issue that can bring the undecided voters down from the fence.

Today’s comment from Dagsavisen

Not unexpectedly Dag Danielsen and the eight others who had been expelled from the Oslo branch of the Progress Party lost the case they had brought against their party in the Oslo Court of Execution and Enforcement. Any other result would have caused a legal and political sensation. There is a strong tradition in this country for the courts not to interfere in the parties’ internal political processes. Fortunately, Norway is not the USA where lawyers and the legal system have become participants in political life almost on a par with the elected politicians themselves. Even though the judgment was expected, it is not without interest as a matter of principle. It is the first time that a court has ever handed down a judgment with regard to a political party’s internal situation. In principle there is no reason that a court may not overrule a party’s decision-making, but there would have to be extremely gross procedural errors for a court to intervene and overturn a party resolution. Carl I. Hagen has won the legal battle in the Oslo Court of Execution and Enforcement, but he cannot be said to have won a political victory in the normal sense of the word. The legal proceedings have revealed the Progress Party to be suffused by a level of political skulduggery that should frighten democratically-minded people from voting for the party. It is now up to the voters to decide.

NOREG