The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 47/00

Date: 7 March 2000

THE PEOPLE WANT BONDEVIK TO STAY (Aftenposten)

A clear popular majority wants the Bondevik Government to remain sitting even if it loses today’s vote in the Storting. According to a survey taken by Opinion for Aftenposten, 58 per cent feel the Government should not step down. The Government has expressed strong opinions about the agreement between IT Fornebu Technoport and the Society for Industrial Growth (SIVA), which Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Odd Roger Enoksen requested last year to get involved in the contest for development of the Fornebu IT centre. Aftenposten’s commentator remarks that the Government’s difficulties are not with the Storting alone. It has not succeeded in explaining to the voters why it may have to go.

BONDEVIK IN SOLE COMMAND TODAY (Dagbladet)

The parliamentary front facing the Bondevik Government is showing cracks. Mr. Bondevik is now staking everything on winning his bitter conflict with the parliamentary majority consisting of Labour and the Conservatives, and he may just carry the day in today’s showdown. Working into the night with leaders of the coalition parties, the PM put the last touches on his strategy. One thing is clear: Mr. Bondevik will show the Storting and the Norwegian people that the centrist coalition Government will not let itself be pushed around. The ultimate consequence is that Mr. Bondevik will stand his ground and call for a vote of confidence. If the vote goes against him, the Government will have to resign.

BONDEVIK PREPARED TO STEP DOWN (Verdens Gang)

Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik will call for a vote of confidence on the issue of the Fornebu IT centre today by notifying the Storting that he will treat the SIVA agreement as a declaration of no confidence in the Government. Minister of Trade and Industry and Liberal Party chairman Lars Sponheim has threatened to leave the Government if it does not stand its ground on the Fornebu IT issue. A legal assessment prepared by the Ministry of Justice condemns the joint Labour-Conservative proposal to instruct the Government in the matter of approval of gas-fired power plants. If Carl I. Hagen (Progress) yields on the Fornebu IT issue today, the Government’s "hell week" will end in total victory for Mr. Bondevik and a fruitless attempt by Jens Stoltenberg (Labour) to topple the coalition Government.

MERITANORDBANKEN STILL WAITING FOR KREDITKASSEN (Dagens Næringsliv)

MeritaNordbanken CEO Hans Dalborg hopes the merger of Unidanmark and MeritaNordbanken will influence decision-makers in Norway to allow Kreditkassen to be a part of this union. The prospect of two seats on the board of directors is being held out to Kreditkassen. The merger so far, with total assets of NOK 1,488 billion and a market value of around NOK 125 billion, is already Scandinavia’s largest finance institution.

RUUD IMPATIENT TO GO ALONG (Aftenposten)

Kreditkassen CEO Tom Ruud is even more impatient to merge with MeritaNordbanken now that Unidanmark has done so. As early as last September, when MeritaNordbanken put in its bid for Kreditkassen, Mr. Ruud made his enthusiasm for this move clear. He has urged the government so many times to step up the work on its bank industry structure assessment that his patience has worn thin. "But the final decision on bank ownership and the structure of the industry is up to the politicians and our other owners," he says.

WORTH NOTING

1. Former Kværner chief executive Erik Tønseth still refuses to accept Kværner’s interpretation of his severance agreement. But he recently paid off his NOK 17 million debt to Kværner. (Aftenposten)
2. The deadline for applications for the first exploration permits for oil and gas on the continental shelf surrounding the Faeroe Islands expires on 17 May. A group of breakaways from Saga Petroleum have now formed a separate company and joined the petroleum gold-rush. (Dagens Næringsliv)
3. A fifth week of holiday and raises of three to five per cent were the demands presented by Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) president Yngve Hågensen yesterday to Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) director-general Finn Bergesen, Jr. at the outset of this year’s national labour settlement. (Dagbladet)
4. Yngve Hågensen (LO) and Finn Bergesen, Jr. (NHO) are the central actors in this year’s private sector wage settlement. Both organizations back their front-line figures with large delegations of 40 each. Though 63 of the 80 negotiators and advisers are men, equal treatment and equal pay is the issue to be examined by one of the three joint task groups to be launched by the two organizations today. (Dagens Næringsliv)
5. Suicide is an inconceivable tragedy which strikes daily. Ten families every week lose one of their loved ones to suicide. (Dagbladet)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Aftenposten

It is a telling sign of the times that while His Majesty King Harald was paying on a solemn state visit to France last week – the first by a Norwegian head of state in 38 years – NATO was busy dismantling its Northwest command outside London and "moving" the defence of Norway to the alliance’s new Northern European command in Brunssum on the border between Germany and the Netherlands. After a half-century with the Northwest command located first at Kolsås outside Oslo and then at High Wycome in England, responsibility for our military security has now moved to the continent. This is a natural consequence of the situation in Europe, with NATO downscaling in response the end of the cold war. The old threats are gone, but new threats to security in Europe have raised their heads in the south and east of the continent. Through NATO’s restructuring efforts, Norway is integrating more tightly with Europe independently of the steps being taken simultaneously – and for the first time – by the EU to form its own security policy. The intent is to increase the EU’s political freedom to act. Against this background, the timing of His Majesty’s visit to France could hardly have been better. The state visit, with its emphasis on culture, commerce, defence and foreign policy, opens important avenues for closer contact in the future. But if Norway is ever to promote its interests effectively, it is essential that we act within the scope of a realistic awareness of the political realities in France and in the EU, and not allow ourselves to be led astray by our own fantasies. After all, even obsessions must be pursued with discretion.