The Royal Ministry o Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 99/00

Date: 25 May 2000

UNIONS FORMING ALLIANCE AGAINST LABOUR (Aftenposten)

Unions all over Norway are planning major demonstrations against the welfare profile of Labour Government’s fiscal budget. 23 national unions with 800,000 members stand behind what they call the Alliance for the Welfare State. This alliance will spearhead major demonstrations in support of upgrading the services of the welfare state. In addition to the Revised National Budget, demonstrations will also target the municipal finance proposition. The initiative also aims to influence the Storting’s treatment of next year’s fiscal budget.

VETO LIST FROM CENTRIST ALLIANCE (Dagsavisen)

The centrist parties refuse to accept nearly NOK 2 billion of the overall NOK 3.5 billion in cutbacks proposed by the Labour Government in the Revised National Budget. Now it is Labour’s turn to sweat as it struggles to balance the budget, they say. The centrist alliance put together a joint veto list in preparation for its first negotiations with Labour today. The alliance underscores its agreement with Labour that the budget should be reduced by NOK 3.5 billion, but if Labour wants their support, it will have to balance the budget in a way the political centre finds palatable.

DISCORD IN GOVERNMENT (Verdens Gang)

A number of informed sources close to the Government have confided to Verdens Gang that at least four ministers in the Labour Government oppose or are highly critical of taking Statoil public. The four are Minister of Labour and Government Administration Jørgen Kosmo, Minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs Trond Giske, Minister of Trade and Industry Grete Knudsen and Minister of Transport and Communications Terje Moe Gustavsen. A number of them are sceptical to the idea of taking Statoil public at all, but they cannot simply disregard the decision of the Labour Party’s national committee that up to one-third of the State Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) may be transferred to Statoil. What the critics within the Government are fighting for, therefore, is to ensure that as little as possible of these assets are transferred. Jens Stoltenberg and Thorbjørn Jagland, for their part, take the view that Statoil must receive enough of SDFI assets to make it a major international corporation and an interesting object for private investors.

STRIKE WILL AFFECT COMMUTER TRAINS (Dagsavisen)

100,000 rail commuters in Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger will have to get to work on their own if state mediator Reidar Webster cannot resolve the wage settlement conflicts before tomorrow. Mr. Webster has found this year’s negotiations tougher than ususal, and he is pessimistic regarding the outlook. This settlement applies to over 600,000 municipal and government employees. The mediation deadline runs out at midnight tonight, and workers may walk off the job tomorrow morning.

STOLTENBERG IN TROUBLED WATERS (Dagbladet)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will meet local politicians in Lofoten today. After the worst fishing season of the past decade, the challenges facing them are formidable. Whole communities whose existence is based on fishing are threatened with economic collapse. When the sea is emptied of our most important fishing resource, the entire region suffers. If the responsible politicians do not take the situation seriously, the damage may be irreversible.

EXTRAVAGANT OPTIONS PACKAGES A THING OF THE PAST (Aftenposten)

According to figures from Statistics Norway, bonuses in the form of stock options have nearly disappeared within the past few years. Hefty executive bonus options have been referred to as one of the factors provoking the strike among Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) unions earlier this month. But it is now apparent that accusations of extravagance on this point were highly exaggerated. The number of options granted fell from 19,600 in 1995 to around 1000 in 1998, which means this type of bonus has nearly disappeared.

WORTH NOTING

1. Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen laboured right up to the end to obtain authorization to split up the Kreditkassen and thereby prevent its sale to foreign investors. But the centrist parties did not agree. (Aftenposten)
2. Major banks in the UK and on the continent are not interested in buying the Kreditkassen, but if MeritaNordbanken’s bid for the Kreditkassen is successful, the resulting entity could become an attractive object of acquisition. (Dagens Næringsliv)
3. The hulk of the Kiev, a Russian aircraft carrier, left Norwegian territorial waters at 4 o’clock this morning, to the relief of the Coast Guard and the pollution authorities. Defence authorities, the Maritime Directorate and the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT) all followed the progress of this hulk with concern as it was towed around the North Cape. The wrecks of two Russian warships already adorn Norway’s pristine northern coastline, and another two have sunk off the coast of Finnmark. (Aftenposten)
4. Norwegians are changing jobs with increasing frequency. Over 60 per cent of the working population are on the lookout for something better, and over 800,000 say they will quit their current jobs within four years, according to a survey taken by Opinion for Manpower, a temporary employment agency. (Dagens Næringsliv)
5. A recent study by the government consumer research institute challenges the myth that Norwegian dinners consist largely of chocolate and fast food. Dinner is a family affair, and three out of four dinners are made by women. (Klassekampen)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Aftenposten

Yesterday’s Question Time in the Storting confirmed that it is by no means certain that the Government will be able to find sufficient parliamentary support for the health sector cutbacks it proposes in the Revised National Budget. Minister of Health Tore Tønne was told in no uncertain terms that these cuts are a provocation. The Government has a valid point, though, in asking the opposition to propose alternatives to the cutbacks they oppose. After all, there is a broad consensus in favour of keeping the budget adopted last autumn in balance. Mr. Tønne feels the proposal to create county hospital corporations is an important step towards freeing the hospitals from the constraints of today’s hospital structure, which is based on county ownership. The proposal also seeks to take advantage of the benefits inherent in the corporation as an organizational structure without claiming limited liability. We commend this innovative approach and applaud the willingness thus demonstrated to restructure. The fundamental problem with the Norwegian hospital system—aside from a chronic funding deficiency— is that it does not incorporate an administration model which enables the hospitals to utilize the resources that are actually at their disposal.