Import ban may threaten EEA Agreement (Aftenposten)

The EU’s veterinary committee has condemned Norway’s two-day extension of its import ban on meat and dairy products. No other country within the EEA has imposed such sweeping trade restrictions as Norway. According to Norway’s ambassador to the EU, Einar Bull, the ban, which looks set for a further extension, could have serious consequences for Norway. "The representatives from Germany and the Netherlands said they were disappointed that Norway has chosen to follow a different line than the other EEA countries," says Ambassador Bull to the Norwegian news agency, NTB.

Government give children top priority (NTB)

On Thursday the Government will publish its long-term programme and we will find out which issues Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg plans to focus on over the next four years. He will have a lot to say about children, since it is children, nursery care and teenagers who are at the heart of the Government’s long-term plans. In addition there is the overhaul of the public sector to increase its efficiency as well as health service and hospital reforms. The need to secure healthy economic growth and secure adequate welfare provisions will also be focus areas for the Government.

Oil revenues should be given to the poor (Aftenposten)

Ten per cent of Norway’s oil revenues should be invested in poor countries. The least developed countries should be exempt from all tariffs. After-school play schemes should be free of charge. Advertising aimed at children under 12 should be banned. These are just some of the proposals the Values Commission has made in its final report. Today the commission says farewell with a "letter on freedom" to the Norwegian people, in which it states that of all the moral values freedom is the most important.

Greedy and no longer Christian (Dagbladet)

No-one escapes a lashing by the Values Commission. We are greedy, minority groups lack basic rights and racism is far from laid to rest. "Norway has an enormous petroleum fund which is only being used to invest in the richest companies in the richest countries. We are proposing that the rules be changed so that the Government Petroleum Fund can be used for business investments in poor countries with the greatest need for capital," says Oxford professor Stein Ringen, who is a member of the commission’s steering committee.

Public sector jobs to be located outside the capital (Dagsavisen)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has promised that all new public sector jobs will be located outside of Oslo. In the long term this could represent a large number of jobs. 190 public sector jobs have already been moved out of Oslo. "If we can manage 190 in one year, it will add up to many thousands of jobs in the years ahead," says Mr Stoltenberg.

Compromise on oil policy closer (Aftenposten)

When the Labour Party’s parliamentary group meets today, Tore Nordtun, chairman of the Storting’s Energy and Environment Committee will give an update on the partial privatization of Statoil and the sale of parts of the State’s Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) in Norway’s oil and gas reserves. In reality it is this meeting which could decide whether it is possible to reach a broad political compromise between the Labour Party, the Conservatives, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. According to information Aftenposten has received, there has been a great deal of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring in an effort to push the Labour Party in the direction of just such a compromise. If that happens the lengthy battle over oil policy within the Labour Party will finally be over.

Students must produce police certificate (NTB)

From 1 April all students who wish to become school teachers, nursery teachers, child welfare officers and social workers will have to produce a police certificate to prove that they have not been convicted or charged in connection with any sexual assault on a child. In addition applicants to a number of other courses will be required to produce a police certificate in order to reveal any prior police record for violent or sex-related crimes. Around 7,500 students will be affected by the new regulations.

Raise property taxes! (Dagens Næringsliv)

Raise property taxes! This is the unequivocal advice Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen received yesterday when he met with some of the country’s top tax experts. At the same time he was warned to abolish or at least lower the rate of both the high income surtax and the wealth tax. Norway has one of the lowest residential property tax rates in Europe. Today, it is the local authorities who levy property taxes, and it applies in only half of the country’s municipalities.

Worth Noting

• After the Palace Administration took over responsibility for the renovation of the royal couple’s private apartments at the Palace, 51 defects have been found in the work previously carried out by the Directorate of Public Construction and Property. A battle over who is to foot the bill has now begun. (Dagsavisen)
• The battle for Kværner is in the process of becoming a free-for-all, in which everyone is fighting everyone else. Kjell Almskog and Kjell Inge Røkke are still locked eyeball to eyeball – and today the employees are due to launch a third alternative strategy. (Dagbladet)
• The timing of a stock market flotation for Statoil’s shares could add or subtract billions to the final outcome. Both the company itself and the Government are planning a June launch, but that would require the Storting to have finished debating the issue by the end of April. (Aftenposten)
• Vice President of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) Gerd-Liv Valla says that in 10 years the LO will have succeeded in cutting the working week to 30 hours. The first step towards that ambition – the introduction of a 35-hour week with no loss of salary – will be one of the demands adopted by the LO’s national congress in May. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is obviously having difficulty putting an end to the salary bonanza in the public sector. Last year senior public sector administrators received the largest increases, beating their private sector colleagues with pay rises of 30 per cent. (Dagens Næringsliv)

Today’s comment from Vårt Land

A year ago the Progress Party had the same level of support in the country as today. Support for the Labour Party is on its way up. Is has struggled free of the 20-something mark and is now perched just over 30 per cent. But it is interesting to note that the Progress Party’s decline has not led to a corresponding upturn for Labour. The ruling party’s situation is far from comfortable. The party to gain most from the Progress Party’s internal troubles is the Conservative Party. Jan Petersen is once more firmly ensconced as leader of the country’s second largest party, with the backing of just under 20 per cent of the electorate. This is something quite different from the measly 10 per cent support it had just over a year ago. If this situation were paralleled in the autumn’s general election, we could be looking at a change of government. But whether there will be a new government and who might take over will be determined by the size of the vote given to the small parties: the Socialist Left Party, the Liberals and the Centre Party.