The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 45/00

Date: 3 March 2000

EU SUPPORTS BONDEVIK IN GAS-POWER WAR (Dagsavisen)

The EU is able to block the building of polluting power plants in Norway and thus save the Bondevik Government. The EU’s Environmental Directorate-General has confirmed its requirement that the best available technology should be applied to Norway’s gas-power war. Rolf Annerberg, next-in-command on environmental issues in the EU, says an analysis of Norwegian gas-fired power plants on the basis of EU standards would take some time —probably around two years. We will now have a working group review the issue and determine what the best available technology is in this area, says Mr. Annerberg. Norway will be represented alongside EU member states in the working group.

CONSTITUTIONALITY OF GAS-POWER DECISION QUESTIONED (Verdens Gang)

Minister of the Environment Guro Fjellanger (Liberal) has taken a dramatic step in the bitter political controversy surrounding gas-burning power plants. In a letter sent on Wednesday, Ms. Fjellanger has asked the Ministry of Justice to prepare a highly controversial legal opinion, which she would like to have back by Monday. She wants the Government’s legal experts to examine the constitutionality of the measure drafted by Norway’s lawmakers for adoption next week.

CENTRE LEADERS: STAY WHERE YOU ARE! (Nationen)

Signals from the Centre Party’s county leaders to party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen and Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik are unequivocal: Do not step down! This is the same conclusion reached by Christian Democratic county leaders earlier this week. The unanimous opinion is that the Government should remain sitting, says Centre Party secretary-general Kjell Dahle.

DÅVØY UPSET WITH LABOUR-PROGRESS OVER FORNEBU ISSUE (Aftenposten)

Minister of Labour and Government Administration Laila Dåvøy (Chr.Dem.) is irate over the Labour and Progress parties’ detailed directions to the Government on the matter of the Fornebu IT centre. Ms. Dåvøy, who heads one of the four government ministries involved in the matter, hopes a parliamentary majority will come to its senses by the time the Storting votes on the issue on Tuesday. She refused to say whether the issue is so important and the parliamentary measure so obnoxious that the Government should put its position on the line.

LABOUR SAYS NO TO BANK MERGER (Dagbladet)

The Bondevik Government can finally chalk up one win: a merger between Den norske Bank and Kreditkassen is impossible now that Labour has taken a definite stand against any such merger. This clarification is in line with the Government’s Credit Policy Statement. The events of the past few days, with DnB turning up with a 10 per cent stake in Kreditkassen, are what convinced Labour to take this stand, says Labour bank policy spokeswoman Ranveig Frøiland.

RECYCLING PROJECT A SUCCESS (Aftenposten)

120 million aluminium beverage cans were sold in Norway last year, and the quantity of empty cans returned has climbed since the national recycling policy for these cans was implemented in May. Returns were up to 70 per cent after three months, and the 90 per cent target, which was not expected for another two years, has already been passed. 1500 metric tons of aluminium have already been collected and recycled.

WORTH NOTING

• This is very good. Now the EU’s working group can take a closer look at our technology. The EU is clearly looking for solutions to energy problems, which opens up interesting possibilities for us as well, says Oscar Graff of Aker Maritime. (Dagens Næringlsiv)
• Naturkraft officials still refuse to furnish the coalition parties with the same information given to Labour and the Conservatives in connection with the gas-power issue. (NTB)
• The Bondevik Government’s extra thousand kroner per month to all living on minimum pensions is now proven to have given this group a substantial lift. The latest figures from Statistics Norway show that minimum pensioners averaged NOK 88,800 in overall income for 1998. After adjustments for inflation, this works out to a NOK 11,500 increase from the year before. (Dagsavisen)
• Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and his Government have now been given ten new commandments to follow. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) has drawn up ten specific steps they want to see taken against growing socioeconomic disparity in Norway. One of the measures is an increase in low-cost housing. (Dagsavisen)
• Robbers have taken somewhere between NOK 50 and 70 million kroner from money transports in the Oslo area in the past 16 months. The police say these robberies share a number of similar characteristics. (Aftenposten)
• Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCCL) stock is in free fall, and Norway’s richest family is hurting. The Wilhelmsen shipping clan has lost NOK 10 billion in the past six weeks. (Aftenposten)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Dagbladet

Jens Stoltenberg and the other Labour Party leaders justify their onslaught in the gas-power controversy by pointing to two decisions from the national conventions of 1996 and 1998. In other words, all they are doing is making normal parliamentary efforts to realize party policy. They elegantly disregard Thorbjørn Jagland’s manoeuvre in 1997, when he sent the matter to the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT) in order to distance it from the election campaign. Labour now proposes to order the sitting Government to strike down the SFT’s decision, a reversal of Mr. Stoltenberg’s support for it last winter. The SFT’s stringent pollution standards effectively bar gas-fired power plants based on current technology. But the two national convention decisions in question are far from being as clear as party leaders claim. We do not doubt Mr. Stoltenberg’s unwavering commitment to gas-fired power plants, though he should be careful about taking this as far back as his tour of duty in the Ministry of the Environment as state secretary, not to say his term as chairman of the Labour Youth League. At any rate, the claim that he has the authority of two national conventions behind him is a truth with heavy modifications.