The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 55/00

Date: 17 March 2000

THE NEW LABOUR GOVERNMENT

Prime Minister: Mr. Jens Stoltenberg

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland

Minister of Defence: Mr. Bjørn Tore Godal

Minister of Trade and Industry: Ms. Grete Knudsen

Minister of Labour and Government Administration: Mr. Jørgen Kosmo

Minister of Finance: Mr. Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development: Ms. Sylvia Brustad

Minister of Health: Mr. Tore Tønne

Minister of Cultural Affairs: Ms. Ellen Horn

Minister of Social Affairs: Ms. Guri Ingebretsen

Minister of Transport and Communications: Mr. Terje Moe Gustavsen

Minister of Fisheries: Mr. Otto Gregussen

Minister of Development Cooperation: Ms. Anne Kristin Sydnes

Minister of the Environment: Ms. Siri Bjerke

Minister of Agriculture: Mr. Bjarne Håkon Hanssen

Minister of Justice and the Police: Ms. Hanne Harlem

Minister of Children and Family Affairs: Ms. Karita Bekkemellem Orheim

Minister of Petroleum and Energy: Mr. Olav Akselsen

Minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs: Mr. Trond Giske

NO CHEERING ON LABOUR’S BIG DAY (Aftenposten)

Labour dropped 4.7 points in Opinion’s political barometer for March, leaving it with a 30.2 per cent rating. Labour has thus lost most of the ground it gained by replacing Thorbjørn Jagland with Jens Stoltenberg as the party’s prime minister candidate. Voter response to Jens Stoltenberg is cold as he presents his new Government, while Kjell Magne Bondevik’s departure has elicited expressions of sympathy and boosted his party’s ratings. The Christian Democrats are up 6.7 points to 17.1 per cent, which in a general election would give them 30 seats and make them the next biggest party in the Storting. The same poll showed substantial changes in the other party ratings as well.

LABOUR AND CONSERVATIVES HANG TOGETHER (Klassekampen)

Jens Stoltenberg moving into the Office of the Prime Minister today with the help of the Conservatives is a reflection of similar processes taking place at the local level all over Norway. A week after the joint efforts of Labour and the Conservatives brought the Bondevik Government down, there are signs of a tendency for these two parties to support each other in local politics as well. Given a choice between a Conservative or a Centre mayor, Labour supports the Conservatives 60 per cent of the time.

IT COMPANIES PLUNGING (Dagens Næringsliv)

The value of Norwegian IT corporations on the Oslo Stock Exchange’s main list dropped NOK 12.4 billion to a little over NOK 96 billion in four days of business. Opticom is the big loser. Analyst Hans Neskvern of Christiania Markets views this as a correction phase for IT stock, and sees nothing very dramatic in this nose-dive. He does not believe it represents a lasting slump.

NEW SAFETY MEASURES FOR NOK 112 MILLION (Dagsavisen)

The Sleipner tragedy may cost Norwegian passenger lines at least NOK 112 million in new safety measures. The Norwegian Maritime Directorate has issued new regulations which, among other things, call for new life jackets, new evacuation systems and better evacuation management.

HEAVY TRADING IN ORKLA STOCK (Aftenposten)

The pressure on Orkla group CEO Jens P. Heyerdahl is increasing. Large blocks of Orkla shares have changed hands in the past two days, with some investors staking everything on the likelihood of a raid. Den norske Bank alone has bought nearly NOK 300 million worth of Orkla shares since the beginning of the year. Orkla analyst Einar Strømstad of First believes potential raiders would have to pay dearly – over NOK 200 per share.

CONFIDENCE IN ORKLA WANING (Dagens Næringsliv)

Confidence in the Orkla Group and its executives is wearing thin in the view of finance politicians from all parties. News reports focussing on share sales effected by Orkla parallelled by share purchases by high-ranking employees have the politicians wondering. The personal statement by group CEO Jens P. Heyerdahl on these transactions yesterday satisfied no one.

WORTH NOTING

• A recent survey reveals that sick leave is highest at workplaces where union membership is high. Sick leave costs the country NOK 30 million every year. More flexible leisure time could help keep sick leave down, says Matz Sandman, head of a commission appointed to find ways to reduce sick leave. (Dagsavisen)
• Prominent leaders from East Timor hope for help from Norway in the reconstruction of their region into an independent state. East Timor freedom leaders Xanan Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta met with the Storting’s Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. (Dagsavisen)
• Officers and employees of Hydro Seafood look forward to having Nutreco as their new owner. Nutreco was the only potential buyer to guarantee that managers and employees would keep their jobs. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• All who dreaded seeing Kjell Opseth in another Labour Government can relax. Mr. Opseth is retiring from politics. He has made it clear that this will be his last term in the Storting. (Verdens Gang)
• Norsk Hydro is planning to sell or trade off shares in 23 of its 107 licenses on the Norwegian continental shelf. These are exploration licenses spread all over the continental shelf. Hydro has already spent several hundred million kroner on exploration activities in these blocks. (Aftenposten)
• Airlines’ fuel expenses will take a 40 per cent jump this year. If their passengers must cover the entire cost it could add up to NOK 200 to fares on every domestic flight in Norway. (Dagens Næringsliv)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Nationen

Relations between the Conservatives and the political centre are at an all-time low today as Jens Stoltenberg’s new Government takes over, helped by the Conservatives’s vote on the gas-power issue. Rephrasing a quote from Thorbjørn Jagland, one may say that the Conservatives have put their foot down, and they intend to stand on it. It is worth recalling that there is nothing new in seeing the Conservatives go it alone. That is what they have done all through the 1990s. Still, the incongruity between the current realities and the Conservatives’ penchant for hanging onto their illustrious past as the dominating party in a non-socialist bloc is becoming increasingly awkward. Those days are over. The Conservatives now have a strong Progress Party on one side and an increasingly cohesive centrist bloc on the other. And one added consequence of this joint action by Labour and the Conservatives is that it has demonstrated to the voters that three more or less equal poles have emerged in Norwegian politics. Based on views held on specific issues, there is little basis for any consistent collaboration between the Conservatives and the political centre right now, though there is nothing to prevent compromises between any of the three poles on individual issues. And besides, case-by-case collaboration has one important advantage: you don’t have to like each other in order to make it work.