The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 61/00

Date: 27 March 2000

JAGLAND SETS COURSE FOR EU (Aftenposten-Saturday)

Foreign Minister Thorbjørn Jagland intends to bring Norway into the EU. He reckons that an enlarged EU with borders extending to the Middle East, the Black Sea, Russia and Norway will make an impression on Norwegians. No one can believe the Norwegian people will hold the views they did in 1994 indefinitely, says Mr. Jagland. As Norway’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jagland finds it important that Norway’s European policy leaves room to manoeuvre, and he insists that the Labour Party’s national convention cannot resolve the issues that may arise in the next electoral term. Aftenposten’s commentator believes Mr. Jagland’s haste will be widely viewed as a provocation.

BUILDING INFRACTIONS ELIMINATE NEW STATE SECRETARY (Dagsavisen-Sunday)

State Secretary Fatma B. Jynge has resigned in response to intense media coverage of her family’s infractions against local building codes. Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Sylvia Brustad and Ms. Jynge reached this conclusion in a joint decision last night. Next to me, Fatma Jynge was the senior official in charge of national housing policy. We could not continue under circumstances in which her integrity was in doubt, says Ms. Brustad.

INCREASE IN OPEC OIL OUTPUT EXPECTED (Nationen-Saturday)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg believes Monday’s OPEC summit will result in a decision to increase oil production. Mr. Stoltenberg made no promises regarding Norwegian oil production when he met US Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who is making a round of visits to oil-producing nations to encourage them to increase production.

RUSSIAN POWER COULD FORESTALL GAS POWER (Dagens Næringsliv-Saturday)

Cheap power from Russia could make gas-fired power plants financially unfeasible in Norway. Finland is opening up for sizeable imports of Russian power to Scandinavia, with Norsk Hydro as the biggest importer. There will be no construction of gas-fired power plants in Norway for the time being. As long as infrastructure for transporting this power is being established, it will find its way to Norway regardless. We therefore give no consideration to Norwegian projects, says Norsk Hydro senior information officer Tor Steinum.

REPORT ADVISES AGAINST STATOIL DE-MERGER (Dagens Næringsliv)

In a report commissioned by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, two consulting firms, Warburg Dillon Read and Pareto Fonds, warn politicians against splitting off Statoil’s foreign involvements and partially privatizing them. The report was commissioned in response to concerns voiced by the Centre Party, whose national committee asked for an assessment of the risks and of the possibility of splitting off and partially privatizing Statoil’s foreign divisions. The report will be incorporated into the upcoming petroleum policy statement.

STOLTENBERG TAKES ONE OF BONDEVIK’S CIVIL SERVANTS (Dagbladet)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg took over former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik’s office last week, and this week he took on Hege Norheim, a former civil servant with the Office of the Prime Minister who worked closely with the Bondevik Government. Ms. Nordheim goes straight from the Bondevik Government’s command centre to a state secretary’s post in the new Labour Government. She understands the reactions to her change in roles, but she makes it clear that she will maintain strict professional silence.I couldn’t turn down the challenge, she says.

HAMMERFEST IN NEED OF AVALANCHE-PROTECTION MEASURES (Aftenposten)

Hammerfest mayor Alf E. Jakobsen asks for NOK 200 million in government funds to secure the residential areas most vulnerable to avalanches. The alternative is to literally move whole neighbourhoods. 110 residents were evacuated from 53 homes, and the risk of further slides is still high. The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute has estimated the total cost of securing Hammerfest at NOK 400 million.

WORTH NOTING

• Other private schools were left out when Minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs Jon Lilletun approved several Christian private schools right before stepping down. An upper secondary physical education school and a Norwegian school in France were both ahead of the schools approved by Mr. Lilletun. (Aftenposten-Saturday)
• State Secretary Fatma Jynge remodelled her home in Stange in Hedmark without obtaining the required local permits. The first immigrant to hold high political office in Norway, Ms. Jynge has had the worst possible start to her career as state secretary. (Verdens Gang-Saturday)
• Espen Barth Eide, the new State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, has been critical of NATO’s war effort. His new boss, Foreign Minister Thorbjørn Jagland, does not agree with Mr. Eide’s criticism, and he states that State Secretary Eide now espouses the Government’s views. (Dagbladet-Saturday)
• Over 220 architectural firms from all five continents of the world have submitted entries to the Bjørvika opera house competition. (Aftenposten-Saturday)
• Kjell Magne Bondevik, Valgerd Svarstad Haugland and Lars Sponheim were open to the idea of inviting the Conservatives to join the coalition, but Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen was adamantly opposed. Central Conservative sources say Jan Petersen found Kjell Magne Bondevik’s offer so deficient as to be ridiculous. (Verdens Gang-Saturday)
• The Government has yet to give the Navy the green light for signing the frigate contract with Bazan on schedule. In the view of the Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions, further negotiations would be a political mistake. (Aftenposten-Saturday)
• Norway has the lowest executive pay but the fattest golden parachutes in Europe, according to Bjørn Johansson, recently judged the world’s best headhunter. Mr. Johansson, a Norwegian based in Zurich, knows the European market for top executives quite well. (Dagbladet-Saturday)
• Do Norwegian executives have to be paid salaries in the millions of kroner to keep them here in Norway? No, according to headhunting firms. Norwegians are seldom or never headhunted to executive positions abroad. (Dagsavisen-Saturday)
• Den norske Bank (DnB) wishes to give its employees the opportunity to buy 31 million shares. If DnB president Svein Aaser reaches his goal of doubling the value of DnB shares in three years, these options could be worth over a billion kroner. (Dagens Næringsliv-Saturday)
• Hydro Automotive Structures has landed a billion-kroner contract with German carmaker Audi for components for its next-generation luxury car, the A8. (Dagens Næringsliv-Saturday)
• The number of psychologists in Norway has doubled in the past 13 years. The demand for their services has never been greater. (Vårt Land-Saturday)

TODAY’S COMMENT From Dagbladet

State Secretary Fatma Jynge became an embarrassment to the Government even before she took up her new duties. When it turned out that the Jynge family was in the habit of making home improvements without adhering conscientiously to the procedures established by law, her continued service as State Secretary of Local Government and Regional Development became untenable. It was an ironic twist of fate that Ms. Jynge, of all people, ran afoul of an area of law widely held to be a statutory minefield which causes major headaches for builders and homeowners alike. It will be noted that the Stoltenberg Government has already declared its intent to bring order to unnecessarily complicated laws and regulations, but a state secretary whose main task is to simplify the rules cannot start out by breaking them. This would leave her without the authority essential to her position, and it left Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Sylvia Brustad with no choice but to let Ms. Jynge go at once.