Labour hopes welfare is most important issue (Dagsavisen)

"If welfare means most". This is the slogan the Labour Party hopes will win it the election this autumn. When Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Labour Leader Thorbjørn Jagland opened the party’s national executive committee meeting yesterday, they made it plain that Labour would mobilize its forces against the opposition parties’ promises to implement huge cut taxes. "Completely antisocial and unrealistic," was Mr Stoltenberg’s description of the Conservatives promise of NOK 20, 40 or 78 billion in tax cuts.

Labour takes aim at the Conservatives (Aftenposten)

"To have one’s cake and eat it too" is the complete opposite of the Labour Party’s new slogan. "If welfare means most" points to the fact that we must chose between lower taxes and better schools. Labour does not believe it is possible to have both as the Conservatives have promised. The Labour Party’s national executive committee came together on the same day as support for the Conservatives reached over 30 per cent in the opinion polls. "To the extent the Labour Party still has its campaign machinery in tact, it will be focused exclusively on the Conservatives’ promises," writes Aftenposten’s leader writer.

PR experts pan Labour slogan (Dagbladet)

"If welfare means most" is the slogan the Labour Party hopes will help it win the election. "Smells mouldy," comments senior communications consultant Hans Geelmuyden. Others describe the phrase as meaningless, woolly, imprecise and downright bad. Ad man Kjetil Try, a good friend of Jens Stoltenberg, is not particularly upset by this almost unanimous criticism. "The point is to show what the Labour Party thinks is the most important campaign issue. The party decided on the message, and I helped with the formulation," said Mr Try.

Giske goes to war (Dagsavisen)

The Labour Party has now launched an offensive to become the defender of good education. Schools could become the election campaign’s hottest issue after Education Minister Trond Giske was given both campaign cash and a free hand to continue his crusade against fundamentalist Christian schools. The voters do not want lower taxes, they want better schools. The Labour Party will now do battle with the Conservatives and the Socialist Left Party in an effort to become the party with the most convincing schools policy.

EU membership dead and buried (Nationen)

Top Labour politicians are guaranteeing that the party will not exert any pressure to get Norway into the EU during the Storting’s next term. Gerd-Liv Valla, president of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, Education Minister Trond Giske and Eva Kristin Hanssen, leader of the Labour Party’s youth wing, have taken Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen at his word and have publicly stated that there will be no new EU membership debate until 2005. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg used his half-yearly press conference on the government’s performance to add weight to his invitation to the centre parties to form a coalition government after the election.

Telenor must make do with third choice (Dagbladet)

Telenor’s nomination committee has recommended that Tom Vidar Rygh be elected as the company’s new chairman. Mr Rygh, who previously headed Orkla’s investment operations, has no experience as a chief executive or chairman for a major company but is described as academically bright and serious. Before the nomination committee arrived at Mr Rygh, former Aker RGI chief executive Bjørn Rune Gjelsten and Norske Skog’s Jan Reinås had both declined the position. The committee’s first choice was Bjørn Rune Gjelsten who was twice nominated by a unanimous vote.

Missing - 119 children (Aftenposten)

119 children vanished from Oslo’s schools during the last school year. Neither their teachers nor their schools know where they are. All the children are between the ages of seven and 16, and all have parents from the immigrant community. The children end up in the local education authority’s "unknown" file. There are no children with Norwegian parents in this file. Are they on holiday? Are they the victims of some criminal offence? Have the children run away from home? Have the parents forgotten to notify the authorities that they have moved house? The Ministry of Education will now investigate.

Dramatic figures for the National Rail Administration (Klassekampen)

Over the past few years productivity at the National Rail Administration has dropped by up to 75 per cent. The number of administrators has exploded, while the number of blue-collar workers has fallen dramatically. NSB and the National Rail Administration were demerged on 1 January 1996, and the company began to outsource some of its operations. But while productivity has fallen, the National Rail Administration receives approximately the same level of public subsidies.

Worth Noting

• The leaders of the centre parties and the Progress Party say the progress made by the Conservatives is mainly attributable to others. "The Conservatives have been scoring points all spring, without actually being on the field," said Liberal Party chairman Lars Sponheim. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• The Labour Party must shed its arrogance and learn to cooperate with other parties, advises former cabinet minister Matz Sandman. He believes this is vital if the ruling party is to retain its influence in the future. (Dagbladet)
• The Norwegian Armed Forces will probably cost NOK 3.5 billion – NOK 4 billion more each year than the Government has budgeted. This figure has emerged after the experts have calculated the consequences of the Storting’s most recent decisions on the structure of the country’s future defence capability.
• In the Nordic region, Norwegian children are the happiest at school and in nursery care. But twice as many children in Norway are bullied compared to Sweden. These are some of the findings from a major survey of children between the ages of 2 and 17 in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. (Dagsavisen)
• Supermarket boss, Stein Erik Hagen, and shipping magnate, John Fredriksen, are the richest people in Norway, according to the US business magazine, Forbes. The publication puts Mr Hagen’s worth at NOK 12.9 billion, while John Fredriksen is purportedly good for NOK 11 billion. (Dagens Næringsliv)

Today’s comment from Dagbladet

On Tuesday the Labour Party’s chairman, Foreign Minister Thorbjørn Jagland, warned against a government made up of the Conservatives and the Christian Democrats. In an interview with this newspaper Mr Jagland said that in a coalition of that kind the Conservatives would have their hands tied behind their backs over EU membership. The Christian Democrats, who are hesitant about EU membership, would prevent the Conservatives from pursuing a much needed debate on the EU. But the Labour Party has a free hand on this issue, said Mr Jagland. Two days later Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg invited the Christian Democrats to join Labour in a coalition government, which would leave the Labour Party just as hog-tied over EU membership as Mr Jagland said the Conservatives would be. The two statements demonstrate clearly the inconsistency the Labour Party has shown about cooperating with other parties. Sometimes Labour has emphasized how important it is to have a firm majority behind the Government, and that this could be achieved in the form of a coalition. Mr Jagland even hinted in 1998 that the Conservatives could be just such a partner. But as recently as this winter Mr Stoltenberg declared once more that the party would campaign on its own. That statement could have been based on the fact that the party was doing well in the polls at the time. The party’s shilly-shallying is due to the fact that it has never taken the question seriously, which is why its various invitations and overtures have been perceived as simply playing to the gallery. The Labour Party must build up some credibility as a political partner. It could take a long time. But at the very least the party needs to discuss the matter internally and create some clarity among its own supporters about its new strategy for government. So far they have not done so. Instead they continue to jump in all directions in a seemingly opportunistic and haphazard fashion. It just creates confusion – not least among their own supporters.