The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 98/00

Date: 24 May 2000

BANK MONEY TO BE PLOUGHED BACK INTO BANK INDUSTRY (Dagsavisen)

Labour proposes to apply the proceedings from the Kreditkassen sale towards strengthening the banking industry. Part of the money could also be used to set up a sector fund, says Labour bank policy spokeswoman Grethe G. Fossum. She is reported to have rejected the idea of channelling these funds into the already-bloated Government Petroleum Fund. The sale of the state’s Kreditkassen holdings is likely to net around NOK 10 billion.

SWEDISH BANKS TO COMPETE FOR KREDITKASSSEN (Aftenposten)

The Swedish Handelsbanken has announced that it will put in a bid for the Kreditkassen, so it appears that the contest for Kreditkassen will be between the Handelsbanken and MeritaNordbanken. The Handelsbanken lost its bid for Fokus Bank a year and a half ago, but this has not weakened its aspirations to grow in Norway.

BREAKTHROUGH WON BY RELENTLESS BANK (Dagens Næringsliv)

The sale of the Kreditkassen was forced through by a foreign bank whose perseverence managed to turn Norwegian bank industry policy around. The Government Petroleum Fund tried five times to block MeritaNordbanken’s bid for the Kreditkassen, but the Swedish-Finnish bank kept up its pressure, with help from the Labour Party.

NORWEGIAN INFLUENCE DISAPPEARING (Aftenposten)

Only membership of the EU can give Norway any real influence on European defence and security policy, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Thorbjørn Jagland following the half-yearly EEA council meeting in Brussels yesterday. After the EU holds a summit in Portugal in June, Norway will take the initiative on a meeting between the six NATO countries which are not EU members.

WORK INSTEAD OF WELFARE (Dagbladet)

The government must spend more money getting people off pensions and welfare and back to work, says social committee chairman Gunhild Øyangen (Labour) before the social committee is to present its recommendation on how to combat social disparity in Norway tomorrow. The focus is on the explosive increase in disability and sick pay expenditures. The social security system now pays NOK 18 billion in sick pay and nearly NOK 30 billion in disability.

CENTRISTS DISAGREE ON TYCOON TAX (Dagens Næringsliv)

Tax on stock options has become a bone of contention in the political centre. The Liberals and Christian Democrats want to reduce certain taxes on the incomes of the wealthy, but the Centre Party will join Labour in voting against the measure. The three centrist parties all support the Labour Government in changing the timing of the stock options tax liability.

WORTH NOTING

• There is probably a parliamentary majority for dismantling the Government Bank Investment Fund over Labour’s objections. After Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen sealed the Kreditkassen’s fate, the justification for this administrative machinery is greatly reduced. (Aftenposten)
• Local Labour politicians in western Norway are calling on the Government to collaborate with the political centre. A rightward turn in policy in such areas as agriculture, the municipal economy and health may cause trouble for Prime Minister Stoltenberg among rural voters. (Nationen)
• 1000 hospital beds will be empty this summer, half of them due to student nurses’ struggle for better wages. Dissatisfied with what they consider low pay, student nurses are declining to take summer jobs at hospitals, and patients all over the country will be affected. (Aftenposten)
• Schools, day care facilities and hospitals may close, mail sorting and delivery may halt and local trains may stop running on Friday morning. If the ongoing public-sector labour negotiations do not produce results, around 34,000 public-sector workers will walk off the job. (Dagbladet)
• Fewer than half of Norway’s local governments collect property taxes. Property taxes could help give municipal employees the pay hikes they demand this year. (Klassekampen)
• A number of Labour Party executive committee members call for the privatization of Statoil, now an inflamed issue, to be put on the agenda of the national convention this autumn. (Verdens Gang)
• There is widespread unrest in the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) over the Government’s partial privatization of Statoil as well as Government policies which have an impact on the distribution of wealth. (Dagsavisen)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Vårt Land

Labour Party chairman Thorbjørn Jagland said in a New Year’s interview that the state’s oil assets cannot be distributed to anyone until parliamentary elections have been held. His argument at the time was that an oil policy revision of this magnitude lacked a basis in Labour’s political programme for the current term. Mr. Jagland is still head of the Labour Party, but Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is now running the country, and his Government is in the process of partially privatizing Statoil and selling parts of Norway’s petroleum assets to Statoil and Norsk Hydro. We believe Mr. Jagland’s arguments of a few months back are still valid. While it is true that Labour’s national committee has discussed the policy aspects of this change, we understand those who feel that any new decision at this point would be setting party policy aside. It is not long since Statoil surprised everyone by adopting a new stand, advocating privatization while retaining all the oil assets at its disposition. But there is no reason why Labour should dance to Statoil’s tune, and besides, the assets they are talking about giving away belong to the Norwegian people. The people should therefore be given a say in this matter through parliamentary elections.