Snow White approved at last (Dagsavisen)

This weekend Hammerfest’s mayor, Alf E. Jakobsen, was celebrating the fact that the Snow White development project had been given the green light – yet again. "But this time it’s final. Nothing can stop the Snow White project now," he said. It became clear on Friday evening that the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) was not going to uphold Bellona’s complaint. All the project’s backers are convinced that the development of the Snow White gas field off the coast of northern Norway will now go ahead.

Striking journalists appeal to LO (NTB)

The country’s striking journalists have called on the executive committee of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) to protest against the continuing publication of a large number of newspapers belonging to A-pressen, the newspaper group with roots firmly planted in the labour movement. "It is outrageous that newspapers which are supposed to promote the labour movement’s values in the Norwegian public debate are the ones that are doing most to publish substitute newspapers during the journalists’ strike. Many of these newspapers’ editors are members of the LO," wrote Olav Njaastad, leader of the Norwegian Union of Journalists in a letter to LO president Gerd-Liv Valla.

Socialist Left Party: Newspaper boycott (Dagsavisen)

The Socialist Left Party is the only party which is refusing to speak to newspapers that continue to publish during the journalists’ strike. The party’s press secretary has told Nationen that it has adopted a resolution ensuring that no one from the Socialist Left Party will be quoted in the press as long as the strike continues. Just like Dagsavisen, Nationen has been published as a so-called ‘editor’s edition’ during the strike. At the end of last week Nationen’s news editor got a shock when the normally forthcoming leader of the Socialist Left Party, Kristin Halvorsen, refused to speak to the newspaper. Nationen wanted Ms Halvorsen’s comment on a very interesting change in attitude on the part of the party’s voters. It seems that an increasing number of Socialist Left Party voters are adopting a pro-defence stance – a majority are now in favour of Nato and as many as 60 per cent of the party’s voters now believe Norway should participate in an EU army.

Call for Statkraft split (Nettavisen)

Knut Eggum Johansen, head of the Norwegian Competition Authority, has called for the state-owned power utility, Statkraft, to be split into several separate units before any future privatization goes ahead. Mr Johansen is afraid that Norway’s largest electricity producer will gain a too dominant position in the market, and that the price of electricity will be pushed up. The Competition Authority recently rejected Statkraft’s application to purchase 45.5 per cent of the shares in Agder Energi. Mr Johnsen says he is willing to reconsider this decision, but only if Statkraft gives up the stakes it has in other Norwegian power utilities.

Brundtland lambasts Labour’s loose-lipped apparatchiks (Tv2.no)

Former Labour leader Gro Harlem Brundtland has attacked what she sees as a twisted party culture and has criticized fellow party members for supplying the media with anonymous tip-offs about the recent leadership battle within the party. Mr Harlem Brundtland stepped down as party leader in 1992, after eleven years at the helm. Like today’s Labour leadership, she too was the subject of anonymous attacks from party colleagues. "There are a lot of people who could have stuck more closely to the rules and been more conscious that what I stand for, I can also say out loud – not just whisper about behind closed doors," she said. "The scary thing is that once one person starts doing it and other people follow suit, it begins to be seen as simply part of the way things are done around here. That is dangerous. And that is when we have to turn things around and ask: Is this how we want it to be?"

Warning against union in-fighting (Klassekampen)

Union representatives at Aker and Kværner have issued a stern warning not to let the trade union movement’s fundamental principles be undermined as a result of the current dispute involving employees at SAS and Braathens. According to a statement from a group of senior union representatives at Aker and Kværner, the so-called Cooperation Committee, the bitter battle for jobs between SAS and Braathens ground staff could have major repercussions on the future of the union movement if some of the attitudes which have surfaced within SAS are not laid to rest.

Worth Noting

• According to figures just published by Statistics Norway, 12 per cent fewer houses were built in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2001. At the same time, the Norwegian State Housing Bank is unable to grant all the applications for mortgages it receives due to a NOK 3.5 billion shortfall in funds, reports NRK. (NTB)
• The threat of a major strike in the hospital sector turned to celebrations for hospital workers. Many employee groups will receive wage increases of NOK 20,000-30,000, partly due to a major boost in salaries for newly qualified staff. The financial framework for the deal is six per cent, the same as that achieved by local government workers. The agreement was reached 10 hours after the deadline for strike action had passed. (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• The Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party as furious over reports that Foreign Minister Jan Petersen put pressure on the Storting’s Energy and Environment Committee to reverse its decision to postpone further discussion of the EU’s gas directive. A week and a half after the Committee unanimously decided to postpone further discussions on the EU’s gas directive, the governing coalition parties and the Labour Party have completely reversed their position. (Klassekampen/Saturday)
• The number of claims for compensation following the Dent-o-Sept oral swab scandal is rising steadily. The Norwegian Patients’ Compensation Fund (NPE) has received 147 compensation claims linked to use of infected Dent-o-Sept oral swabs, 54 of them from the Oslo and Akershus area. (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

Today’s comment from Vårt Land

Norwegian foreign aid efforts have come in for much criticism over the years. According to the critics, Norwegian aid leaves few tangible results. They are right in saying you do not have to look far to find examples of amateurish bungling. But it is unfair and unreasonable to judge today’s foreign aid work on the basis of failed projects dating from the past. Financial assistance is nowadays used much more wisely. The latest example of money well spent can be found in Development Cooperation Minister Hilde Frafjord Johnson’s letter to Dagsavisen, in which she announced that Norway will increase the amount it spends on education projects as part of its development cooperation activities by up to NOK 1 billion. Around nine per cent of Norwegian development assistance is currently used for educational purposes. By 2005 this will have risen to 15 per cent. Ms Frafjord Johnson will launch this initiative at the conference of Nordic education and development cooperation ministers which opens in Oslo tomorrow. The Minister recognizes that education is the gateway to political, economic and social rights, and that education for girls is the most powerful force for change. If there is anything which represents help for self-help – assistance which enables recipients to take more responsibility for their own lives – it must be education. A lack of education has always prevented the poor and downtrodden from improving their lot, and this has been used actively to reinforce the power of the authorities and those at the top.