Norwegian oil giant gets minister’s blessing (Aftenposten)

Trade and Industry Minister Ansgar Gabrielsen has given his blessing to a possible merger between the oil and gas divisions of Statoil and Norsk Hydro – providing that the such a merger has the approval of the two companies’ managements and boards. The governing coalition is deeply divided over this issue, which has important industrial policy implications. Petroleum and Energy Minister Einar Steensnæs, who represents the Norwegian state’s 82 per cent stake in Statoil, was quoted in Aftenposten on 18 January as saying that it was important for competition in the Norwegian oil sector to have two major oil companies.

Labour needs new leader now (Dagens Næringsliv)

According to former Justice Minister Grete Faremo, Labour needs to call an extraordinary party conference as soon as possible to elect a new leader. During the 1990s Grete Faremo held a number of ministerial positions (Development Assistance, Justice, and Petroleum and Energy) in Labour governments. Today she is a senior executive at Storebrand. In Ms Faremo’s opinion the party cannot afford to continue with a party leader who has already resigned his office. "It is important to get a new leadership in place quickly and develop a new political platform," she said.

Attack on Bondevik government blocked by Socialist Left Party (Dagbladet)

The Progress Party and the Labour Party had developed a plan to attack the sitting Bondevik government and force it into a humiliating retreat over its hospital policy. But the Socialist Left Party said no, to the relief of Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen and Labour’s deputy leader, Jens Stoltenberg, made repeated attempts to persuade the Socialist Left Party’s Kristin Halvorsen to join their offensive – but to no avail. To their chagrin, therefore, Mr Hagen and Mr Stoltenberg were forced to acknowledge that the Socialist Left Party’s refusal to join the attack on the Bondevik government meant there would be no parliamentary majority for a proposal to compel the Government to change its directive ordering hospitals not to increase the number of patients they will treat this year.

Immigration Directorate to warn foreign brides against notorious wife-beaters (Aftenposten)

Some Norwegian men marry, abuse and discard one foreign wife after another. According to the women’s refuge movement Norway should follow Sweden’s lead and ban such men from entering into new marriages. The Immigration Directorate (UDI) supports the call. Trygve Nordby, who heads the UDI, is asking for permission to warn women who apply for a residence permit in order to marry a repeatedly violent man. The UDI knows the identities of a number of such men.

Church of Norway could be taken to the cleaners (Nationen)

The disestablishment of the Church of Norway could lead to its financial ruin. Professor Henning Jakhelln expects a fierce legal debate over who is the rightful owner of the Church of Norway’s fortune, which amounts to NOK 4 billion. The professor believes there are legal arguments both for and against the Church keeping its assets. "If the conclusion is that the Church is part of the state administration, it would point to the state having title to the assets. If the conclusion is the opposite, that the Church is a foundation and therefore a separate legal entity, the assets belong to that legal entity," explains professor Jakhelln. Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, who is himself an ordained minister, says it would be natural for the Church to retain its assets, and he has promised to set up a commission to look into the issue.

Bondevik calls for sell-off of shares in dictatorships (Vårt Land)

The Government Petroleum Fund should be allowed to sell its shares in companies with operations in Burma and other dictatorships, says Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. But the Fund will retain its shares in eco-unfriendly enterprises. The Government will shortly receive a proposal which would enable the Petroleum Fund to sell its shares in the event of breaches in international law. The Fund, worth a massive NOK 613 billion, has instructions to invest in assets which give the highest rate of return. A number of attempts to impose ethical standards on the Fund’s investment policy have all come more or less to grief, with the exception of a ban on investments in weapons manufacturers who operate in breach of international law.

Nurses threaten renewed strike action (Dagens Næringsliv)

Nurses’ leader Bente Slaaten is prepared for a new strike at the country’s hospitals in a few weeks. The nurses are demanding wage rises of between NOK 50,000 and NOK 100,000 over a two-year period. Just before midnight on Tuesday the Government put an end to the nurses’ strike which had lasted for six weeks. But the nurses do not need to pack away their picket signsa just yet. This year’s round of ordinary wage negotiations for hospital workers gets underway at the beginning of April. And the nurses could very well end up back on strike.

Worth Noting

The Justice Ministry’s proposals for new anti-terrorist legislation have received the backing of the police, putting them on a collision course with the Director General of Public Prosecutions and the country’s judges over this issue. (Dagsavisen)

The Government is planning to propose legislation making it illegal for housing associations to refuse immigrants the right to buy housing association property. The new legislation is part of the Government’s action plan against racism and racial discrimination. (Dagsavisen)

Svein Aaser, chief executive of Den norske Bank, is trying to entice Sweden’s major investors to buy shares in DnB. The Norwegian government plans to reduce its stake in the bank from 47.3 per cent to 33.3 per cent, which, according to Mr Aaser, should lead to a rise in DnB’s share price. (Dagens Næringsliv)

Design guru Bruno Oldani has described the recently unveiled design programme for Princess Märtha Louise’s forthcoming wedding as, "quite dreadful". The colour scheme, typography and other design elements are well past their sell-by date. According to Mr Oldani, it looks like an invitation from the Russian mafia to a wedding in Cannes. (Aftenposten)

Norwegian elk-hunters are afraid they will have to lay down their guns for good or be prepared to eat all the elk meat themselves if a newly proposed EU directive on the handling of meat from game is adopted. (Aftenposten)

Today’s comment from Aftenposten

We understand the nurses’ demand for higher wages. It is not healthy that a nurse can leave a job at a public hospital and earn NOK 100,000 per year more with an agency which is making a fortune out of the hospitals’ recruitment problems. But we have no taste for the nurses’ strike which was brought to a halt on Tuesday when the Government imposed compulsory arbitration. The nurses were attempting to force through an extra round of wage negotiations. With 16,000 planned operations, treatments and examinations held up during the six-week strike, it could not be allowed to continue. The Norwegian Board of Health was right to say that it could not rule out the danger of continued strike action posing a threat to public health. The National Wages Board has a simple task ahead of it. The employers’ organization, NAVO, opposed the nurses’ demand on the grounds that it would be unreasonable if so many nurses were awarded an additional wage rise before the normal round of wage negotiations began in April. This argument is strengthened by the fact that other groups of hospital workers agreed to an extension of existing wage agreements until the start of this year’s negotiations. The National Wages Board should tell the nurses that they should raise the issue of pay parity across the whole hospital sector when the two sides meet again for the normal round of wage negotiations. When that time comes we expect the employers to show considerably more understanding for the nurses’ demands than at this present juncture. This has been an unnecessary strike.