The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 66/00

Date: 3 April 2000

TARDINESS DOES NOT PAY (Dagsavisen)

Norwegians pay several hundred million kroner in bill reminder fees every year. In a survey carried out by Dagsavisen, it appears that public offices as well as private businesses collect huge amounts from late payers. The State Educational Loan Fund, for instance, collected NOK 72 million just in bill reminder fees in 1999. The Consumer Council emphasizes that these are supposed to cover real costs only. It is intended to motivate people to pay on time, not provide extra income.

BIGGEST UNION LEADERS SAY NO (Dagsavisen-Sunday)

Four of the 18 union leaders in the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) negotiations committee voted against the state mediator’s proposed compromise between the LO and the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO). The four represent half the LO members who will now vote on the deal. LO leaders do not expect there to be any problems when the rank-and-file vote on the proposal, however.

STATE WILL HAVE TO PAY (Aftenposten-Sunday)

The state must pay a large part of the bill for the generous severance pay agreements granted to employees of the state-owned oil companies. Up until last year, employees of Norsk Hydro, Statoil and Saga were given one-and-a-half years’ pay for leaving. Other offers have included early retirement plans and funding for further education. The oil companies have booked these costs as operating costs on various oil fields. As co-owner, the state shares the burden of paying this bill, but our elected politicians have not known of this item, which involves a NOK 500 million budget overrun.

NORVIK RENOUNCES AGREEMENT (Aftenposten-Saturday)

Harald Norvik took some of the heat off Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) president Yngve Hågensen, the Statoil board of directors and, not least, himself when he notified the Statoil board yesterday that he would not claim his NOK 10 million golden parachute. This matter has been a burden on Statoil’s board of directors and on the rest of the company. Controversy over a former executive’s severance agreement is not at all good for a company. And it has not been pleasant for Statoil employees to see this controversy on the front pages for so long, says Mr. Norvik. His entire retirement agreement is worth around NOK 29 million, but it is only the part which applies up to his 60th year that he is giving up.

RESTAD DEMANDS FURTHER FRIGATE DEBATE (Verdens Gang)

Former Finance Minister Gudmund Restad (Centre) calls on the Labour Government to submit the frigate case to the Storting for a final decision. While he was still Minister of Finance, Mr. Restad had a number of questions on the financial aspects of the project. The uncertainties regarding the project’s finances are of such a degree that all the facts of the case should be placed before the Storting, which should then decide how the situation is to be dealt with, says Mr. Restad.

SHELL/SIEMENS PROMISE EMISSIONS-FREE POWER (Dagens Næringsliv)

Shell and Siemens Westinghouse will start construction this autumn on its first CO ₂ emissions-free power plant fuelled by gas in Norway. It will only be a test plant, but the two corporations hope to be ready to supply economically viable plants to offshore oil installations within five years. This is good news, says Minister of Petroleum and Energy Olav Akselsen.

GAS POWER MAY NOT PAY (Nationen)

Gas-fired power plants with carbon sequestration technology will be more expensive than wind power generation, according to calculations performed by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Administration on the basis of today’s construction costs. But the cost of wind-based power generation is projected to drop as much as 40 per cent within five to ten years. Nor is it certain that gas-fuelled power plants without CO ₂ sequestration technology of the type the Stoltenberg Government wants to build, will be competitive. The reason is that it is not yet known how much it will cost to buy carbon emissions quotas.

WORTH NOTING

• Minister of Labour and Government Administration Jørgen Kosmo does not wish to amend the Annual Holidays Act. His point is that the fifth week of holiday agreed upon between the LO and the NHO should apply to all workers. The holiday measure in the agreement signed Saturday night applies only to employees of NHO member companies subject to the official labour settlement. (Dagsavisen-Sunday)
• LO president Yngve Hågensen brazenly defends the NOK 4.4 million golden parachute he, as a member of the Statoil board, had a hand in giving Harald Norvik in 1996. In his next breath, he defends yesterday’s wage settlement: 75 øre per hour across the board—and another week of holiday within 2 years. (Verdens Gang-Sunday)
• The Conservative parliamentary group gave party chairman Jan Petersen the answer he was looking for: the positions of party chairman and parliamentary leader will still be vested in one and the same person. And I believe I will still head the party after the national convention, said Mr. Petersen. (Nationen-Saturday)
• Ten years ago, then Prime Minister Jan P. Syse convinced the Storting to allocate a huge sum towards environmental work on the Kola Peninsula. NOK 300 million was set aside for sulfur-reduction measures in Nikkel, an industrial city on the Russian side of the border, but NOK 270 million is still untouched. (Dagbladet-Sunday)
• Skepticism is strong in Labour’s parliamentary group to the sale of Hydro Seafood to the Dutch corporation, Nutreco. Labour’s industrial policy politicians are unanimous in calling on the Government to block this sale to foreign owners. (Dagsavisen)
• A man attempting to sell Bache Gabrielsen cognac for NOK 150 per bottle in a rural community in Romerike caught the attention of the police. Two men were subsequently arrested, and approximately 5,000 bottles have been confiscated. 14,000 bottles are still missing. (Verdens Gang)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Vårt Land

Harald Norvik is only 53 years old, but he has already acquired sufficient wisdom to turn down the controversial pension granted him by the Statoil board of directors. There are weighty reasons for showing restraint in overturning agreements which have been signed, but we surmise that the Government, the NHO and the LO are all breathing a bit easier now. For all three, Mr. Norvik’s decision must be worth far more than the millions which he had coming. Prime Minister Stoltenberg has characterized the agreement as unwise, but he did little more than wash his hands of the matter. The NHO was not comfortable with the agreement, which reinforced the impression of corporate executive greed which has caused no little embarrassment as the labour settlement is now approaching a conclusion. And the LO promptly lapsed into an awkward silence once everyone realized that the boss himself, Yngve Hågensen, shared the responsibility for this golden handshake. The best thing to emerge from this incident is that Norway’s business community has now been forced to publicly recognize practices which have repeatedly led the public to question the moral quality of Norway’s corporate executives. Norway’s tradition of solidarity among all levels of society is such that it is difficult for deals of this kind to achieve acceptance. It is to Mr. Norvik’s credit that he voluntarily relinquished this lucrative agreement.