EU highly negative to Norway’s import ban (Dagsavisen)

The European Commission has protested strongly against Norway’s decision to ban imports of live animals, meat and dairy products from the entire EU region. Norwegian Agriculture Minister Bjarne Håkon Hanssen, for his part, believes the decision is correct and is absolutely certain that the ban is based on sound scientific reasoning. The ban came into force yesterday at 4 pm. All vehicles crossing the border and all ferry passengers arriving from Denmark were stopped and all meat and dairy products confiscated.

Enough meat – price rises unlikely (Aftenposten)

The ban in meat imports will not lead to meat shortages in Norway unless people start stockpiling. Only 10 per cent of meat and four to five per cent of dairy products sold in the Norwegian market are imported. Farmers want to raise meat prices, but it is far from certain that they will be allowed to do so. The Government’s chief agricultural subsidies negotiator, Per Harald Grue, says that any rise in prices would be out of the question.

Back to square one (Dagbladet)

In the course of six months the Progress Party has lost more than half its supporters. Several months of internal strife has left its mark. In a recent opinion poll carried out by independent market researchers MMI, the Progress Party has fallen back 4.5 percentage points to 15.4. It is the Conservative Party that has most to smile about, though the Centre Party achieved the greatest individual gain, jumping 1.5 percentage points to 7.1 per cent. The Conservatives are once again the country’s second largest party, with the support of 18.4 per cent of the electorate.

On the lookout for wealthy friends (Aftenposten)

If Kjell Inge Røkke is to win the battle for Kværner he must find some friends who can take 8.9 per cent of the company’s shares off his hands. The EU is forcing Mr Røkke to sell that amount of shares. If he can find buyers who will support his plans for a merger between Aker Maritime and Kværner, the battle may be over. Shipping magnates Petter Sundt and Andreas Ove Ugland, as well as long-time business partner Bjørn Rune Gjelsten, are Mr Røkke’s wealthiest friends.

People’s share hits bottom (Dagens Næringsliv)

The Storting wanted Telenor’s shares to be bought by large numbers of Norwegian small investors and a NOK 2 discount was enough to make 53,000 private individuals purchase shares in the company. Those small investors who allowed themselves to be tempted into buying Telenor shares by chief executive Tormod Hermansen now look like losing NOK 40 million. Yesterday Telenor’s shares fell to their lowest level yet, NOK 35.

Top of the class (Dagsavisen)

Education, Research and Church Affairs Minister Trond Giske comes top of the class in Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s government. Among a gaggle of academically bright and painstaking colleagues, Mr Giske has earned a reputation as a political dynamo and an effective administrator. The Stoltenberg government celebrates its first birthday on Saturday.

Worth Noting

• A decisive factor behind Norway’s decision not to ban imports at an earlier date was the fear of EU countermeasures. (Aftenposten)
• People can bring their pets unhindered into Norway from any EU country. "It is a paradox that we do not have the right to stop them," says the duty veterinary inspector at Oslo’s Gardermoen Airport. (Aftenposten)
• Parents can forget the principle that the additional cash benefit for children under three should be the equivalent of the state subsidy for a public nursery place. The Conservatives and the Christian Democrats are in the process of abandoning that principle. (Aftenposten)
• "I am not going to stop the repatriation of ethnic Albanians to Kosovo," said Local Government Minister Sylvia Brustad at question time in the Storting on Wednesday. Ms Brustad made this clear after a question by fellow Labour MP Grethe Fossum, who wanted to know why employed ethic Albanians from Kosovo cannot keep their jobs in Norway, given that the country needs more migrant workers. (NTB)
• Patients can cut 570 days off the time they spend waiting for hospital treatment by choosing the right hospital. The difference between hospital waiting lists can vary by up to 18 months. (Aftenposten)
• Once the foot-and-mouth crisis has passed Sweden may become a real Eldorado for shopping-mad Norwegians. The bargains are not only to be found at the meat counters, but wine and spirits will also be half price. Sweden will cut wine and spirits prices dramatically from this summer. (Dagbladet)

Today’s comment from Dagsavisen

The Government has decided to close Norway’s borders to all dairy products and all meat from cloven-hoofed animals from the whole of the EU area. It is a drastic measure, but the Government really had no other choice. The decision should have come a day earlier, as soon as it was confirmed that foot-and-mouth disease had not only crossed the Channel from Britain to France, but had also spread to several French farms. At the moment no one knows how far the epidemic has spread on the highly populated European Continent. Norway now has every chance of avoiding the disease, but that will depend on everyone observing the ban and faithfully complying with all the other government imposed regulations. If this crisis lasts for any length of time, it will be felt both in the form of higher prices and a poorer selection of meat products in the shops. But this is the price we must pay to prevent foot-and-mouth disease spreading to Norway. At the same time it is necessary to introduce stricter controls to prevent meat smuggling, an activity which has grown considerably in recent years.