Minister backs change in nursery funding (Aftenposten)

Children and Family Affairs Minister Karita Bekkemellem Orheim has given her backing to the Conservatives’ proposal to stop discriminating between local authority and private nurseries, and centralize central government and local authority funding into one pot which can be paid out directly to the individual nurseries. "The Labour Party is planning to provide billions of kroner to the nursery sector over a period of several years, but this effort will be quite impossible if the local authorities do not do their part. This will be an acid test for the local authorities," said Ms Bekkemellem Orheim. She emphasises that there is one objective which is more important than any other. The fees parents pay for a nursery place must be cut and the number of places available must be increased.

Economics professor calls for more public investment in Norway (Aftenposten)

Norway is saving too much, its return on investment is too low, too much of that saving is carried out abroad and too much of it is controlled by the state, says Victor D. Norman, vice-chancellor of the Norwegian School of Economics and Business (NHH). He wants Norway to repatriate its oil revenues, and start investing actively in Norwegian industry. Profitable Norwegian projects are not being implemented because the state is managing the country’s oil revenues. According to Mr Norman, if private investment managers were allowed to invest those funds in Norway, the likes of Kjell Inge Røkke would face more competition when they made a takeover bid.

New environment protection act for Svalbard (NTB)

The Norwegian parliament voted Tuesday evening to pass a new environment protection act for Svalbard despite the heated protests of the local population. The new law will severely restrict the use of snow scooters in the Svalbard wilderness. From 1 January only the use of snow scooters which has been specifically sanctioned will be permitted on Svalbard. The Ministry of the Environment says the law is necessary because the use of snow scooters is a threat to Svalbard’s flora and fauna.

Full speed ahead (Dagsavisen)

The Government has changed its mind and decided after all to build five new MTBs (missile torpedo boats). Following yesterday’s meeting of the Labour Party’s parliamentary group, it also became clear that the party will enforce the whip on Labour MPs to ensure the joint operational headquarters is located in Jåttå, near Stavanger on the southwest coast. Defence According to Minister Bjørn Tore Godal, the Government has decided to modify its proposed reorganization of the Norwegian armed forces. "We will increase defence spending from NOK 112 billion to NOK 114 billion, enabling the phasing in of five new MTBs from 2003," he said. The five boats will be additional to the prototype vessel which has already been built by the Umoe yard in Mandal, southern Norway.

PM warns Opposition not to play defence card in election campaign (NTB)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has warned the other political parties not to use the reorganization of the Norwegian armed forces as an election campaign issue. On Tuesday the Storting’s Defence Committee postponed its recommendation on the Armed Forces until Friday. "I hope the country’s need for a broad agreement on defence policy will not be made to suffer for the parties’ desire to score political points in the run-up to the general election. Defence policy is too important for that," said Mr Stoltenberg in an interview with NRK. On Tuesday the Government attempted to gain Opposition support by agreeing to build five new MTBs in addition to KNM Skjold, which has already been completed. The question is whether the Conservatives and the centre parties think this is enough. In addition to the MTB issue, there is considerable disagreement in the Storting’s Defence Committee over where the Armed Forces’ joint operational headquarters should be located.

Better tax checks could bring in billions (Dagsavisen)

The Directorate of Taxes has calculated that each tax office employee tasked with checking businesses’ tax returns could collect NOK 10 million each year. Yet despite this, the number of tax office employees at both local and county level has been reduced by 500 over the past five years. "Norway is losing huge amounts because there are too few people checking that businesses are paying enough taxes. The Directorate of Taxes needs to hire more people to check tax returns and carry out audits," says Stein Thorvaldsen, leader of the tax office employees’ section of the Norwegian Civil Service Union (NTL).

Eva gives helping hand to Thorbjørn (Dagbladet)

Eva Joly, the Norwegian-French judge who helped to uncover the corruption scandal in the French oil company, Elf, is to give Foreign Minister Thorbjørn Jagland some pointers on how to combat corruption and international crime. Ms Joly, who is a feared crusader against corruption in France, will help the Foreign Minister through her participation in the Global Management – Dialogue Forum, which had its first meeting in Oslo yesterday. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry is currently preparing a report to the Storting on the challenges of globalization.

Row over immigration (Dagens Næringsliv)

The Labour Party is at odds with the Conservatives, Christian Democrats, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left Party over proposed new rules for foreign job-seekers. As a result, the Progress Party could win the day with their proposal to maintain the current practice where immigrants must apply for a job in Norway from their own home country. The Government wants nurses and other specialists to be able to seek work after they have arrived in the country. The Progress Party believes the Government has gone too far, while the Conservatives’ Erna Solberg says they have not gone far enough. "Norway has a labour shortage. It should be much easier to get a job in this country. All those groups who meet the requirements for receiving a work permit should be able to apply for one from Norway," said Ms Solberg, who chaired discussions on this issue in the Storting’s Local Government Committee.

Worth Noting

• Each year 10,000 patients are involuntarily committed to Norwegian psychiatric hospitals, placing Norway firmly at the top of the list in Europe in terms of the use of force. (Nationen)
• A study of middle-aged Norwegian men with a high risk of heart disease shows that a healthy diet and stopping smoking halved the mortality rate for the group over a period of 25 years. The study was carried out by Ullevål Hospital in Oslo. (Aftenposten)
• The trend among voters is clear. For a whole year there has been a solid non-socialist majority – without the Centre Party. According to Liberal Party chairman Lars Sponheim, if this is confirmed by the election result it will benefit Norwegian business and bring a change of government that much closer. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Interest in acquiring a large farm is enormous, but becoming a landowner costs the earth. When Glittregård in Hakadal was put up for sale, 35 bids were received, with the highest bid approaching NOK 3.5 million. (Dagbladet)
• Fred Olsen experienced a humiliating defeat in his battle with little brother Petter over how their dead mother’s unique art treasures should be divided between them. Fred Olsen lost on all counts. The brothers’ inheritance consists of 34 paintings by Edvard Munch, including a version of the famous "Scream" picture, worth a total of approximately NOK 1 billion. (Dagens Næringsliv)

Today’s comment from Dagbladet

Norway has had a general ban on immigration for almost 30 years. Originally the measure was meant to be temporary, but it has been extended again and again. Tomorrow the Norwegian parliament has the opportunity to ease Norway’s extremely tough restrictions on job-seeking immigrants. But there is a danger that the parties will put themselves in a position that precludes a majority for any of the proposals. The Labour Party is backing the Government’s proposal that only specialists should be allowed to apply for a work permit from Norway once their three-month residence permit has run out. The Socialist Left Party, the Conservatives and the centre parties also want seasonal workers included in this scheme, while the Progress Party does not want any change in the current regulations. We could therefore see the Progress Party walk off as the winner when the voting is over. Such a result would not be worthy of the Storting. It would be shameful if the Progress Party, with its minority position, were to decide such an important part of the country’s immigration policy.