Progress Party support plunges after sex scandal (Aftenposten)

The first opinion polls to be taken after the sex scandal in the Progress Party hit the news show that support for the party has plummeted six percentage points. Voters are abandoning the party in favour of the Conservatives and the Labour Party. Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen had planned to step down in two years, with Terje Søviknes taking over as chairman and Siv Jensen as leader of the parliamentary party. Mr Hagen has now been forced to rethink his plans.

Call to make Russian ships notify military authorities of their presence in Norwegian waters (Aftenposten)

A Russian oil tanker was yesterday ordered to change course and sail farther off the Norwegian coast by Norway’s military authorities, who are calling for all such ships to be required to notify them of their presence in Norwegian waters. It was by chance that Norway’s Defence Command North Norway (FKN) spotted the fully-laden Russian oil tanker, Volgograd, some six or seven kilometres from land near Hammerfest. "We asked the ship to stay a minimum of 20 km off the coast, which they have now done," says Lt. Col. John Espen Lien of the Defence Command North Norway. The requirement for ships to notify Norwegian authorities is currently limited to former warships under tow from Murmansk. There is no agreement obliging oil tankers to provide similar notification.

New EU rules may increase tax burden on Norwegian industry (Dagens Næringsliv)

New EU guidelines on state subsidies relating to environmental issues may result in a significant increase in environmental taxes for Norwegian industry. Tax concessions amounting to over NOK 7 billion are at stake. As a non-member, Norway has not been involved in elaborating the EU’s guidelines, but is nevertheless bound by them. The European Commission published new guidelines for state environmental subsidies earlier this month. The guidelines affirm how the Commission will in future evaluate environmental subsidies and tax concessions in relation to the general regulations covering state subsidies.

Drop in circulation for Norway’s biggest newspapers (Dagsavisen)

Last year Dagbladet sold 14,414 fewer newspapers compared to the year before. Aftenposten is struggling too, while Trygve Hegnar’s newspaper, Finansavisen, has been declared the winner in last year’s circulation war. In total the newspapers belonging to the Norwegian Newspaper Publishers’ Association (NAL) saw a 1.1 per cent drop in circulation. "Rumours about the death of the newspaper industry are considerably exaggerated," says NAL president Helge Simonsen. Despite last year’s fall in circulation, Norway is still the world’s biggest consumer of print based news, he says.

Calls for Jagland to put Turkish human rights on Ankara agenda (NTB)

Eighteen Norwegian organizations have called on Foreign Minister Thorbjørn Jagland to raise the issue of human rights abuses in Turkey, when he visits Ankara on Friday. The organizations, which belong to the umbrella group, Norwegian Forum for Freedom of Expression, accuse the Government of being weak on Turkish human rights abuses, most recently in connection with Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit’s official visit to Norway last June. Mr Jagland has previously made it clear that Norway considers it best to express its concerns over conditions in Turkey through the various international political organizations, a policy the Norwegian Forum for Freedom of Expression believes is inadequate.

Worth Noting

• Kreditkassen, one of Norway’s largest high street banks, has suffered what looks like being its largest single loss since the banking crisis of the 1980s. At the centre of the affair is John V. Holten, a bankrupt ex-patriot Norwegian living in the USA. The bank could lose well over NOK 100 million, or possibly even more. (Aftenposten)

• Today almost the entire Norwegian contingent on Kreditkassen’s board of directors must leave their posts. Their places will be taken by Swedish directors from Nordea. Kreditkassen’s employees are unhappy with the situation. (Aftenposten)

• Half of all employees in the retail trade are under 25 years of age. Only one in five is over 40, according to a survey carried out by the School of Trade and Retail Management. While the older generation is disappearing, turnover amongst the young is high. 50 per cent of employees hand in their notice each year. (NTB)

• The Environment Ministry has engaged professor Normann Aanesland of the Agricultural University of Norway (NLH) to examine the sheep farmers’ compensation system. The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) has hired the same man to evaluate government subsidies. (Nationen)

• There are currently an estimated 40-50 environmental activists out on skis in the Imsdalen area, where hunters are attempting to locate a wolf pair. While the hunt is continuing, so far without success, the Court of Execution and Enforcement in Oslo is debating whether the hunt is in contravention of the Wildlife Act, The Bern Convention and the Norwegian-Swedish cooperation agreement on joint management of the two countries’ wolf population. (NTB)

• Almost 6,000 animals were killed in collisions with trains and cars during the 1999/2000 hunting season. Among these were 1,921 elk, compared to 1,880 elk the season before. (Nationen)

Today’s comment from Dagsavisen

The opinion polls show that support for the Progress Party has been falling steadily since the party’s record level of well over 30 per cent early last autumn. A poll published in Dagbladet yesterday shows that the Progress Party has dropped to under the 20 per cent mark. The gap between the Conservatives and the Progress Party has been cut to around 2 percentage points. And there is good reason to believe that the Søviknes scandal will accelerate the Progress Party’s slide. We would therefore not be surprised if the next poll shows the Conservative Party has more support than the Progress Party. Electoral experts said yesterday in this newspaper that the Søviknes scandal has not affected Mr Hagen’s position, and that voters will remain loyal to the Progress Party. This is a poor analysis of the situation within the party and of the voters’ reaction to the party’s recent behaviour. It would be a great surprise to us if this scandal does not lead to an even greater number of voters switching away from the Progress Party. The parties of the right have a worryingly large degree of support in the polls, seven months ahead of the general election. The Socialist Left Party, the Labour Party and the centre alliance parties, must make the most of this opportunity. If they do not manage to exploit a situation where the Progress Party is out for the count, there is something seriously wrong with them.