Hagen continues attack on Kleppe (Nationen)

Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen has stepped up his attacks on fellow party member Vidar Kleppe, accusing him of acting counter to the wishes of the party’s parliamentary group. But so far no moves have been made to formally exclude Mr Kleppe from the party. Following the resounding silence surrounding last weekend’s national committee meeting, Mr Hagen chose to sum up the internal debate on the turbulence currently rocking the party. A resolution calling for action to combat the "harmful undermining" of the party was strongly in focus.

More insiders under investigation (Aftenposten)

Another insider trading case with international ramifications is under investigation by Norway’s Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission. Shady investors are finding it increasingly difficult to keep their identities a secret abroad. The Commission is currently investigating several cases of alleged insider trading where shareholders are hiding behind banks and other financial institutions. Cooperation between a number of industrialized countries means that the authorities are now able to probe investors’ dealings even when they involve cross-border transactions.

PM slammed by angry northerners (Dagbladet)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg took a verbal mauling last night by irate regional activists from the extreme northeast of the country. "Our beloved Finnmark is bleeding. We are lighting the fires of rebellion which will spread to all the remote rural communities in Norway," said Toril Olsen of the Popular Uprising for Finnmark. "I understand the concerns of individuals faced with major changes," said Mr Stoltenberg after having been hauled over the coals by angry Finnmark residents yesterday. However, the huge gulf dividing the governing political elite from the grass roots of coastal Finnmark was plain for all to see. The people of Norway’s remote rural communities have absolutely no wish to be "modernized" by Mr Stoltenberg and his youthful band of advisers. The Labour Party’s keystone project is being met with deep scepticism.

Hydro wins SDFI (Dagens Næringsliv)

Norsk Hydro’s director general, Egil Myklebust, looks set to be the winner in the struggle for the lucrative State Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) in Norway’s oil and gas reserves. Norsk Hydro and foreign oil companies will be permitted to purchase up to 10 per cent of the SDFI. This is one probable outcome of the compromise hammered out between the Labour Party and the Conservatives. The Government had proposed that Statoil should be permitted to buy 15 per cent of the SDFI, while Norsk Hydro and the foreign oil companies should share five per cent between them.

Statoil loses control of gas transport (Dagens Næringsliv)

One of the most difficult issues facing the Storting’s Energy and Environment Committee is the Government’s proposal to create a new natural gas transport company. Today Statoil has management responsibility for 94 per cent of the gas pipeline capacity in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, which effectively gives it a complete overview of capacity usage. This is in breach of the EU’s Gas Directive, which requires that all companies have equal access to information about prices and capacity. The Government has therefore proposed the creation of a new, neutral company which will take over responsibility for operating the gas pipelines. The Government further proposes that the state should own 100 per cent of the company until a new, permanent form for ownership is found.

Coastal emergency response organization should be centralized (Aftenposten)

The governors of the three counties making up the North Norway region have called for responsibility for Norway’s coastal emergency response capability to be centralized under one authority. The County Governors are also demanding round-the-clock coastal surveillance to prevent shipping accidents and oil catastrophes. In a letter to the Government they also indirectly ask for the Navy to be given greater responsibility for the country’s future coastal emergency response capability. The letter from North Norway’s three senior civil servants was prompted by concerns over the growing oil tanker traffic from the Murmansk region in northern Russia.

Worth Noting

• Last year the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime uncovered a record number of bankruptcy-related criminal offences. Yet despite this, the Authority’s bankruptcy investigation team is to be disbanded. (Dagsavisen)

• Telenor chief executive Tormod Hermansen must split the corporation into three separate companies if he is to win the approval of the OECD. The OECD’s proposal has the backing of several other telecoms companies. (Dagens Næringsliv)

• The Stockbrokers’ Association’s ethics board asked Telenor’s board of directors several questions regarding the company’s stock market launch. In a five-line reply Telenor has refused to provide any information. (Aftenposten)

• The number of house fires in Norway has risen by 53 per cent in two years. Last year house fires cost NOK 1.3 billion. Norway has the largest number of house fires in the world. (Aftenposten)

• Deputy chairman of the Progress Party’s parliamentary group, John Alvheim, has proposed the cancellation of all parliamentary group meetings as part of a campaign to ostracize Vidar Kleppe, reports NRK. (NTB)

• People who donate money to international aid campaigns pay millions of kroner each year in bank and telephone charges. The five largest humanitarian aid organizations now want an end to this practice. (Dagsavisen)

• The international real estate giant Jones Lang la Salle has forecast major problems for IT Fornebu, which is redeveloping part of the former Fornebu airport site. A recent survey shows that Norwegian IT companies regard Fornebu’s location as remote. (Dagens Næringsliv)

• From 1 March you will no longer have to put up with advertisements clogging up your mailbox. From that date a new law comes into force which makes unwanted advertising illegal. (Dagbladet)

• "Several thousand Norwegians are hooked on electronic slot machines," says Dr Hans Olav Fekjær, a consultant at the Blue Cross clinic in Oslo. Dr Fekjær is one of the few psychiatrists in the country to treat compulsive gamblers.

Today’s comment from Vårt Land

Once upon a time there was a musical called " Stop the world, I want to get off". What about a follow-up, "Stop Norway, I want to get off"? We are currently living in a country where the news is dominated by accusations of sexual assault and a bitter power struggle in the Progress Party, wolf hunting in Østerdalen, as well as Norwegian cross-country skiing medals and Finnish doping scandals at the recent World Championships in Lahti. In all these news stories, emotions have got completely out of hand and the items themselves have been blown out of all proportion. Instead of news we are getting a house of horrors. In the USA many states have introduced a "cooling off period". If a person buys a gun, they must wait a few days before they can take it home with them. The aim is to reduce the risk of the purchaser committing a crime of passion. A cooling off period for news stories would also be a good idea – so that Carl I. Hagen and other politicians would have to wait 96 hours before they were given the chance to comment on a statement by Vidar Kleppe, and/or vice-versa. Most obvious are the feelings aroused by the current wolf hunt because the sides in the confrontation are more clearly drawn. There is no doubting that management of the Norwegian wolf population is a complicated affair, and that it is difficult to have a clear opinion about how many animals should be killed. But despite this, people are at each other’s throats in keeping with the worst traditions of Norwegian festive behaviour. It does not matter what people in other countries think about this issue. In the final analysis, the most important thing is how to we feel about this absurd situation ourselves?