Voters more concerned about taxes (Aftenposten)

Tax policy is more important for people than it was before, according to Aftenposten’s panel of voters. Tax policy has increased in importance in parallel with the popularity of the Conservative Party, and now only schools and the elderly are more important to voters than their own wallets. Central Labour politicians are groping for solutions, and are worried about the future. Most of them have ideas as to what can be improved, but there is no solution that everyone agrees on. Some people blame the Prime Minister’s advisers, some blame individual ministers, some blame the way the party is being profiled, and some want the party to establish new alliances. "Support for the Labour Party may drop dramatically. The party has no firm basis," said Herman Kristoffersen, the mayor of Tromsø.

VAT chaos has hurt Labour (Dagbladet)

The chaos surrounding the VAT reform is one of the main grounds for the Labour Party’s current lack of popularity, according to Labour Party Chairman Thorbjørn Jagland. The Conservative Party is breaking popularity records one after the other, but despite this Mr. Jagland does not believe that we are seeing a wave of conservatism. "My impression is that people are in favour of the social democratic system, welfare schemes and equitable distribution. I don’t believe this is a wave of egotism. What we are seeing, though, is that people are irritated about some areas of taxation, primarily the VAT reform," said Mr. Jagland. At Thursday’s national party congress Mr. Jagland will design Labour’s strategy to counteract this trend.

Large-scale VAT inspections to take place (Dagsavisen)

The tax authorities are rolling up their sleeves in preparation for the VAT reform. Starting on 1 July around 45 000 additional business people will be paying VAT. And at the end of the summer the inspectors will start their work. Two important changes will come about when the VAT reform is implemented on 1 July: VAT on food will be halved, and VAT will be introduced on a number of services, such as real estate brokerage and postage stamps.

Utter confusion in Centre Party (Nationen)

Centre Party leaders cannot explain why voters are leaving the party despite the fact that opposition to the EU is record high and there is widespread disapproval of the Labour Government’s regional policies. "It is a paradox," said Centre Party Chairman Odd Roger Enoksen at the party’s press conference yesterday. He hopes that a stronger stance against the Conservative Party and the EU will bring the voters back before this autumn’s general election.

USA biggest investor in Statoil (Aftenposten)

Yesterday Statoil was listed on the Oslo and New York stock exchanges. The company’s first day on the stock market was a success. Immediately after the stock market opened at 10.00 the Statoil share price rose to NOK 72, which meant that the value of the company increased by NOK six billion. However, during the course of the day share prices fell, and ended at NOK 69. Former group CEO Harald Norvik was disappointed that Norwegian investors showed so little interest in Statoil. Norwegian investors bought only 16 per cent of the shares that were offered on the market. US funds are now Statoil’s largest private shareholders.

Sale of shares went smoothly (Vårt Land)

When Statoil went public yesterday, 62 000 small investors bought shares. Several thousand of them had never invested in the stock market before. Never before have so many Norwegians owned stocks. Atle Sommerfeldt of Norwegian Church Aid has nothing against this method of saving money, but feels that we must be better at asking ourselves how this money could help to make a better world.

Ready for a comeback (Dagens Næringsliv)

Around eight months after he was fired, Åge Korsvold wants to climb back to the top of the Norwegian private sector. Yesterday the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime in Norway decided to drop the case against the former Storebrand CEO. At worst Mr. Korsvold would have faced a prison term if he had been convicted of what the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission of Norway viewed as obvious breaches of the Securities Trading Act. The Commission is considering appealing the decision not to prosecute, and is convinced that Mr. Korsvold’s options transactions were in violation of the Act.

Children’s division of National Bureau of Crime Investigation is not being used enough (Verdens Gang)

Vice squad investigators at the children’s division of the National Bureau of Crime Investigation in Norway are waiting for assignments. At the same time, Norway’s police districts are dropping many cases after having investigated them without help. The figures are a shock to Minister of Justice Hanne Harlem, who is now ordering the police to ask for help more often. The eight investigators in the Bureau’s special unit for the sexual abuse of children were asked to help only 15 times during the whole of 2000.

Flirting with Europolitan (Dagens Næringsliv)

Group CEO Tormod Hermansen of Telenor is making advances to Europolitan, the partner of his dreams. Europolitan is Sweden’s third largest mobile phone operator. Telenor’s subsidiary Zalto Communications has entered into an agreement with Europolitan to offer a new type of mobile telephone subscription to Swedish young people, who include, according to the company, subscribers from 15 to 30 years old. The subscription will be offered under the brand name "djuice".

Worth Noting

• Thorbjørn Jagland confirms that he is prepared to accept one more period as chairman of the Labour Party. This means that Labour will have dual leadership until at least 2004. (Dagbladet)
• One out of every five Norwegian businesses is clearly opposed to allowing employees to wear religious headgear, according to a recent survey by the Centre for Combating Ethnic Discrimination. (Dagsavisen)
• Kjell Magne Bondevik foresees tax cuts of NOK 10 to 12 billion during the next few years. And the Christian Democratic Party may end up with a key role after this autumn’s general election. Thus the NOK 40 to 70 billion that the Conservative and Progress Parties are talking about would lie far in the future with the Christian Democrats as a partner in a coalition government. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg emphasized Norway’s sovereignty over Svalbard several times when he began his visit to Russia in St. Petersburg yesterday. (Dagsavisen)
• You could have flown for free on Braathens, SAS and Widerøe all year if the companies had received as much in government subsidies as the Norwegian State Railways. This is the result of recent calculations by Braathens, as reported in its internal newsletter. (Verdens Gang)
• Karita Bekkemellem Orheim, who is both Minister of Children and Family Affairs and chair of the Labour Party women’s movement, heard rumours to the effect that Grete Berget lost her position as State Secretary because she was the mother of young children. But she did nothing. (Verdens Gang)

Today’s comment from Dagens Næringsliv

The choice is now between a continuation of the Labour government, or a government in which the Conservative and Progress Parties have the Christian Democratic Party "trailing along with them", as Labour chairman Thorbjørn Jagland puts it. The choice is between accepting more of Labour’s increasing tax burdens or letting the Conservatives lighten the yoke, according to Conservative spokesmen. We will be hearing this again and again in the run-up to the general election. But this will not necessarily mean that it is true. Labour will not be able to govern alone. If there is not a massive shift to Labour during the next few months, the party will actually be worse off than it is today, since Labour will probably lose the majority it has together with the Socialist Left and Centre Parties. Labour also needs someone "trailing along with them". However, the Conservatives will not be able to put their promised tax policies into practice, because they must have the support of the Christian Democrats and Progress, at a minimum. If the conservative trend continues as strong as it has been this spring, the Conservative and Progress Parties could gain a majority. This would probably mean changes, but it is not very likely. It would certainly be an advantage for voters if potential political allies joined forces before the election and presented political plans that could actually gain a majority. But they don’t want to. Thus we will have an election campaign full of debates on plans that will never come to fruition. Unfortunately.