Labour voters jump ship in droves (Aftenposten)

In just one month support for the Labour Party has dropped by 5.6 percentage points to 26.4 per cent, according to the latest opinion poll by market research company, Opinion. The Christian Democrats have made the biggest gains, and now have the support of 15.3 per cent of the electorate. "Today’s poll could be the beginning of the end for the Labour Party’s position as Norway’s largest party, not only in an opinion poll but at an election too," says this newspaper in today’s leader. "The only thing for us to is to carry on working to implement our policies," says Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. But Labour Party activists do not understand what has gone wrong.

Temptation and disgrace (Dagens Næringsliv)

Months of internal strife form the backdrop to the Progress Party’s annual conference, which opens in Oslo today. Support for the party has been cut by half since last autumn, MPs have left the fold or been thrown out, and a sex scandal brought down the party’s deputy chairman. Carl I. Hagen wants peace and quiet, but could be faced with a battle over sick pay. The Progress Party is seeking internal harmony and consolidation. However, Mr Hagen is an old hand at this game and what interests most commentators is to see what political tricks he will be tempted to pull out of the bag to win back the party’s lost support.

Progress Party rejects EU membership (Dagsavisen)

This weekend’s annual conference will see the Progress Party join the ranks of those opposed to EU membership. And without any debate on the issue. For the next four years the Progress Party will be a ‘No to the EU’ party, according to the party programme for the period 2001-2005, which is due to be approved today. The Progress Party has also warned of the consequences that will ensue if the pro-membership parties push through a referendum on the issue against the will of the people.

Bondevik accused of hypocrisy (Dagsavisen)

Kristin Halvorsen, chairman of the Socialist Left Party, has accused the Christian Democrats of hypocrisy and says that their morals are so bad the party needs its own Values Commission. According to Ms Halvorsen the worst example of Christian Democrat hypocrisy is that Kjell Magne Bondevik talks about giving priority to children and schools, but spends the money on the Armed Forces. The Socialist Left Party leader is overjoyed that other parties are now focusing on the plight of schools and children in their election manifestos. But in her address to the party’s national committee yesterday, she forecast the election campaign would resemble an auction, with the parties outbidding each other in the hopes of winning the voters’ support.

Super-rich threesome tighten their grip (Dagens Næringsliv)

Yesterday Christen Sveaas emerged as the fifth largest shareholder in the insurance company, Storebrand. Together Mr Sveaas and his buddies Stein Erik Hagen and Johan H. Andresen now control 17.5 per cent of Storebrand’s shares and around 12.5 per cent of Orkla. The threesome have private assets totalling over NOK 20 billion. As the major shareholders in two of Norway’s largest and most important companies these three musketeers form a power base of a kind the country has never seen before.

House prices nearing their peak (Dagbladet)

House prices rose by four per cent in the last quarter. "We are nearing the peak," says Trygve Swartling, president of the Norwegian Real Estate Agents’ Association (NEF). And about time too. Last year the housing market rose by nine per cent. In the first three months of 2001 prices rose by four per cent, according to recent figures from the NEF and the Centre for Economic Analysis (ECON). Your home has never been worth so much as it is now.

Negotiations to end 30-year-old conflict (Dagsavisen)

The Government of the Philippines and the country’s rural communist guerrillas will meet in Oslo today to try and put an end to a conflict that has raged for more than 30 years. Norway’s role as host for the peace negotiations which will take place this weekend at Holmenkollåsen, just outside Oslo, is not new. The secret meetings which led to the Oslo Agreement eight years ago, are perhaps the most spectacular example of such behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

Worth Noting

• Seventy per cent of Norway’s IT-oriented companies increased their operating revenues in the first quarter this year compared to the same period last year. The price of IT shares has fallen dramatically compared to last spring, but the first-quarter results tell another story. (Aftenposten)
• More women than men have received a promotion in the past three years, according to a recent survey financed by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the employers’ organization, the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO). But attitudes still need to be changed if the objective of full equality in the workplace is to be achieved. (Dagsavisen)
• Statoil’s shares are to be floated on the Oslo and New York stock exchanges on 18 June. The Storting yesterday gave its final approval for the partial privatization of the company and the sale of some of the State’s Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) in Norway’s oil and gas fields. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• According to Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen, the ESA’s demand that Norway extends the airline passenger tax to cover flights from airports in the North of Norway, which are currently exempt, is proof that the EEA Agreement is biased against the rural areas. "The ESA’s demand is an assault on Norwegian sovereignty and an attack on business activity in rural areas and the local people," says Mr Enoksen. (Nationen)
• Disgraced former deputy chairman of the Progress Party, Terje Søviknes, will not be taking part in the party’s annual conference, which begins today – to the relief of Mr Søviknes’ successor, John Alvheim. The party leadership wants Mr Søviknes hidden away in his home town of Os, and quietly forgotten. "I am still terribly disappointed by his behaviour. I would have nothing to say to him," says Mr Alvheim. (Dagbladet)
• 2,000 litres of radioactive heavy water will shortly take to the road as it is transported from Halden to Denmark. The water, which has been used to cool the atomic reactors at Halden, is to be upgraded in Denmark and then returned to Norway. Heavy security measures will be in place while the transport takes place. (Dagbladet)
• NetCom and NRK have signed an agreement on the joint development of internet-based mobile phone services. The companies are initially planning to develop a range of news and entertainment services. (NTB)

Today’s comment from Dagbladet

In his capacity as Foreign Minister, the Labour Party chairman, Thorbjørn Jagland, has take the Pakistani community in Norway to task. The rebuke has done Mr Jagland little good. The issue in question is whether the world’s second most populous country, India, should become a member of the UN Security Council. There is little understanding for Norway’s support for India among Norwegians of Pakistani extraction. They are threatening not to vote for the Labour Party. The Pakistani community in Norway cannot, of course, dictate the Norwegian government’s standpoint on foreign policy issues. It is also possible that Mr Jagland is right in describing them as marginal voters. Strictly speaking we all are. But Foreign Minister Jagland should show some understanding for the fact that party leader Jagland needs all the votes he can muster at this autumn’s general election. In many ways he is in the same situation as an American presidential candidate. Jewish voters are probably marginal too, but if they are dismissed as irrelevant they will represent a loss on polling day.