Call for compulsory residence in rural Norway for refugees (Nationen)

One of the leading spokesmen for the immigrant community in Norway, Aslam Ahsan, has said that refugees and asylum seekers who are given residence permits in Norway should be obliged to live in rural communities for a period of five years. "The Storting should use its refugee policy in its efforts to strengthen rural life in Norway," says Mr Ahsan. He also believes that attendance at Norwegian language courses should be a prerequisite for the granting of residence permits to refugees.

Refuse to hand in their weapons (Aftenposten/Sunday)

7,000 reserve officers are defying an order from the Headquarters Defence Command Norway and refusing to hand in their weapons. All those not on active service have been ordered to do so. The military high command will be reissuing the order, and will consider how to react if it is not complied with. Officers who left the Armed Forces were previously often permitted to keep their weapons, and there may now be several thousand in circulation. The police are concerned that the weapons will fall into the wrong hands, and are planning a weapons amnesty so that the guns may be handed in without fear of punishment.

Armed Forces cut severance pay (NTB)

The Armed Forces are to cut the size of the severance package being offered to officers who voluntarily resign their commissions. Up to now officers could receive half pay from the forces until the age of 60, even if they had got another job in the meantime. Several officers have therefore negotiated severance packages worth over NOK 3 million. From now on officers under 50 must have a special reason before they can expect to be awarded such a lucrative deal.

Extremely unwise (Verdens Gang/Sunday)

Orkla’s chief executive, Jen P. Heyerdahl, has publicly attacked the management of Norway’s oil wealth. He describes current management practices, exercised through the Norwegian Government Petroleum Fund – as "extremely unwise" and "incomprehensible". Mr Heyerdahl says that a sensible management of the Fund’s resources would increase the return on investment by several billion kroner each year.

Strong support for Petroleum Fund (Dagens Næringsliv)

International banks grabbed responsibility for managing the lions’ share of the Norwegian Government Petroleum Fund at the expense of Norwegian financial institutions. Now Vital, Storebrand, Orkla and others want a bigger slice of the cake. This could mean tougher competition with higher returns bringing with them a higher level of investment risk.

Advice that costs a fortune (Verdens Gang/Saturday)

Tomorrow a select group of Norwegian business leaders will join Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen for a seminar on what to do with Norway’s oil wealth. Lower taxes and more money for roads and education are among the expensive advice he will receive from the 33 men and six women. If Mr Schjøtt-Pedersen were to implement the demands from Norway’s most important business executives, the billions would pour out of the Government’s treasury.

Hospitals cut waiting lists (Aftenposten)

Norwegian hospitals are setting new records. At the beginning of the year there were 4,068 patients whose waiting list guarantee had not been met, compared to 5,715 a year ago. This is a reduction of almost 30 per cent. There have never been so few breaches of the waiting list guarantee, since the scheme was introduced. From 1 January patients have been given new rights and the waiting list guarantee has been abolished.

Record electricity consumption as temperatures plummet (Dagsavisen)

Norwegian power stations are working flat out to provide enough electricity as temperatures plummet. It may even be necessary to cut the power to heavy industry, and in the worst case private households may be hit by power cuts. Spineless politicians are to blame for this threat to electricity supplies, says the Federation of Norwegian Process Industries. "Norway has the largest energy resources in Europe, but we still cannot manage to meet our own demand for electricity," says the organization.

Worth Noting

• After being dumped as the leading candidate for the Progress Party’s Akershus branch, Fridjof Frank Gundersen has made a ferocious attack on his "good friend" Carl I. Hagen and the party he says he does not recognize. "For a long time I thought Carl I. Hagen was my friend. I now realize he is not," says Mr Gundersen. (Dagbladet/Sunday)
• The Attorney General is trying to prevent a complaint about Norwegian racial discrimination being heard by a UN committee. The case concerns an immigrant who was refused the right to rent a home. Justice Minister Hanne Harlem does not think it is embarrassing that the Attorney General is attempting to prevent the complaint being heard. (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• Half of the new "Agenda" trains purchased by NSB, the Norwegian national railway company, have been taken out of service after their diesel tanks developed leaks. (Dagsavisen/Sunday)
• Norwegian telecoms giant, Telenor, is searching for a partner in Sweden. The company is mainly interested in the mobile phone market, but chief executive Tormod Hermansen is not planning to try and acquire an existing Swedish mobile phone company. (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• The Government has published its new zoning scheme for the establishment of a wolf population in Norway. The proposal has been met with opposition from both environmentalists and farmers. However, it seems clear that permission will probably now be given to cull the two wolf packs in Østerdalen, near the Swedish border. (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

Today’s comment from Dagens Næringsliv

Today it is the turn of business, along with the odd representative from various interest groups and business schools, to give Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen some more advice on how he can do his job in the best way possible. In other words, increase the level of economic activity here in Norway, at the same time as the country’s social, cultural, healthcare and educational challenges are met, at the same time as interest rates and inflation are kept low. Last week it was the economists – 23 men and 2 women – who gave him advice. Now it is a group of business leaders – 33 men and six women – who will be offering counsel. Let us hope Mr Schjøtt-Pedersen grows wiser, much wiser, from all the advice his is undoubtedly getting. We ask the same question as after the first advisory session. How is all this good advice to be made use of? Is it to be added together with the economists’ advice and divided by the number of advisory sessions or number of participants? Will a summary be published for everyone to read? Or is the idea simply to make the most severe critics moderate their tone?