Praise for finance minister (Aftenposten)

The opposition parties have praised Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen for inviting the advice of non-governmental experts on how best to use Norway’s immense oil revenues. Traditionally Norwegian finance ministers have been advised on economic policy solely by their own ministry. At the end of next month Mr Schjøtt-Pedersen will therefore be breaking new ground when he spends an entire day with 24 of the county’s leading economists.

Give NOK 100,000 to every norwegian (Dagbladet)

Handelsbanken’s chief economist Knut Anton Mork has some tentative suggestions for how Norway could spend its oil revenues. He says that each year the country could spend NOK 5 billion on health, education and care of the elderly, and NOK 10 billion to lower taxes. Mr Mork believes we can spend NOK 15 billion a year without eating into the country’s capital.

Harsh criticism of nuclear safety projects in Russia (Dagens Næringsliv)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is extremely critical of the Norwegian-led nuclear safety projects being carried out in Russia at a cost of NOK 500 million. In a report from the Office of the Auditor General, the Ministry alleges that most of the 111 projects have made insufficient progress and given poor results. Usually government ministries are quick to go on the defensive when the Storting’s official watchdog starts investigating. But in this case the Foreign Ministry has forestalled the Auditor General, even though it is itself a target of its own criticism.

Record seizures of drugs, tobacco and meat (Nationen)

Customs officers seized far more narcotics, sedative tablets and cigarettes in the first 11 months of the year than in the same period last year. Border controls have also resulted in the confiscation of record quantities of meat. While customs officers last year seized 55 tonnes of meat, they had confiscated over 65 tonnes by the end of November this year. The smuggling of meat, beer and wine is steadily increasing in volume, and the smugglers are becoming more professional.

Hagen fears growth will reduce party’s influence (Aftenposten)

Carl I. Hagen believes it may be more difficult to join a government coalition if the Progress Party does too well at the next general elections. "Negotiations are often easier between potential coalition partners that are more or less the same size," he says. Mr Hagen believes voters will demand a majority government after the elections, even though Christian Democrat leader Kjell Magne Bondevik has so far rejected the idea of a coalition including Mr Hagen.

Child crime tripled in five years (Dagsavisen)

Norwegian children steal, vandalize and are more violent than before. The number of crimes committed by children under 10 has tripled since 1995. If they had been old enough, 253 children between the ages of five and 10 would have gone to prison last year. "It is a very worrying and frightening trend," says Roger Andersen, head of the Oslo Police Force’s Crime Investigation Unit. He believes it is an indication that society is failing when more and more children and young people commit criminal offences.

Dry, wet and warm year (Dagsavisen)

In terms of the weather, 2000 has been a year of contrasts and will be remembered as the wettest, warmest and driest ever. While the East and South of the country had a record rainfall, Mid-Norway and parts of the North had what was probably their driest autumn on record. In Oppdal, South Trøndelag, a total of 26 millimetres of rain was registered in the three months September, October and November. By comparison, in Kosmo, West Agder, a total of 1,414 millimetres of rain fell in the same three months.

Worth noting

• A police patrol car became the target of a bank robber as he emerged from Kreditkassen’s branch office in Bogstadveien, Oslo, yesterday. The police car was hit by 11 rounds from a machine pistol before the robber hijacked a car and made his getaway. A committee that has been looking at police use of weapons on behalf of the Oslo Police Officers’ Association believes Norwegian police officers should be armed. The committee adds that today’s system, where the Oslo police have their weapons locked in their vehicles, is inadequate and it is just a matter of time before all officers are permanently armed. (Aftenposten)
• Norwegians are buying shares as never before. 100,000 new accounts have been registered with the Norwegian Registry of Securities this year, and the value of the securities recorded in these accounts has risen by NOK 112 billion in just one year. (Dagsavisen)
• A political majority supports the transfer of the Government’s stake in Norway’s oil industry and the partial privatization of Statoil. The civil service is already looking at the need for a greater level of professionalization and possible conflicts of interest for the state as shareholder. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• In 1978 aid worker Petter Skauen met the Swedish businessman Lars Hannel by accident in Guatemala City. Mr Skauen has now "inherited" NOK 100 million. Most of the money will go to aid projects in Guatemala, where Mr Skauen was the Norwegian Church Aid’s local representative for many years. (Verdens Gang)
• Bishop Gunnar Stålsett yesterday made Norwegian church history when he visited Oslo’s largest mosque. It is the first time a Norwegian bishop has visited a mosque. Previous contacts between the two religious communities have been in the form of Christmas lunches held on neutral ground. (Vårt Land)

Today’s comment from Dagbladet

A large ship has run aground off the coast outside of Tromsø. It reminds us how vulnerable our coast is regardless of whether the ships plying our waters are ancient rust-buckets or brand new vessels. By a strange coincidence a number of shipping accidents have occurred in the pre-Christmas period, but they have not led to serious pollution from oil or other substances. If that is due to good contingency planning or simply good luck, is not for us to judge at this time. But both the ships’ technical standard and the crews’ navigational skills are undoubtedly important factors in evaluating the risk of future accidents. Just before Christmas it became known that there are plans to transport nuclear waste from Europe along our coast for disposal in Russia. This represents a new challenge for our maritime authorities. They may be able to handle minor oil leaks, but a stranded ship full of nuclear waste constitutes a danger to the environment and to the population at large that far exceeds anything we have had to deal with so far.

NOREG