The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo
Press Division – Editor: Mette S. Øwre

Norway Daily No. 185/02

Date: 30 September 2002

Health and social security expenditure with stranglehold on budget (Aftenposten/Saturday)

Lots of old people, more people receiving sick pay and other social security benefits, and more pills. Today’s politicians have their arms tied tighter with regard to the national budget than they did ten or twelve years ago. This is because health, care of the elderly and social security benefits now account for a far larger proportion of public spending, which limits the Finance Minister’s freedom of movement.

Hagen looking forward to action replay (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

The Progress Party is thinking of repeating last year’s budget strategy and forcing the Government to ask for a vote of confidence in the Storting. At that point Carl I. Hagen can rescue the Government, while giving himself a free hand to spend more of the country’s oil revenues. "We are very conscious that a budget agreement would prevent us from doing deals in specific areas, for example with the Labour Party. Rescuing the Government after a vote of confidence would give us much more room for manoeuvre, and not the same obligations," said Carl I. Hagen.

Shorter hours – lower pay (Dagbladet)

Lower pay rises for everybody, a shorter working week for older workers and more immigrants in employment. These are among the proposals which Jens Stoltenberg and Gerd-Liv Valla have now launched to save the Norwegian economy. The last time the politicians, employers and unions agreed on a solidarity package, it provided the framework for wage negotiations over a number of years. But since 1998 a combination of high spending and substantial pay rises for both senior executives and ordinary workers has led to sky-high interest rates and an exchange rate which is on the point of destroying the country’s export industries.

More innocent people could have been convicted (Aftenposten)

Victims of miscarriages of justice will now receive help to reopen their cases and clear their names. Minister of Justice Odd Einar Dørum is to set up a special body, outside the courts and the public prosecution service. "I have seen people crushed," said Mr Dørum. Law professor Ulf Stridbeck said the move would make legal history. Reopening criminal cases will now become a public responsibility. The new model means that the commission will itself be able to investigate and question witnesses. A total of 40 cases which were reopened from 1992 to 19999 ended in acquittal.

Candidates at odds over policy (Dagsavisen)

The two hottest candidates for the vacant Labour Party deputy leadership slot disagree on everything from the EU and interest rate policy to beer sales and gas-fired power stations. A review of where Trond Giske and Karita Bekkemellem Orheim stand on various controversial political issues shows that the deputy leadership debate is very much a matter of politics. "Trond and I work well as a team. Sometimes we disagree. But my experience is that political disagreement in the Labour Party often goes this way and that. In relation to questions of values and ethics as well as questions of education and privatization, for example, Trond and I are completely in accord," said Ms Bekkemellem Orheim.

Funding for after-school care to be cut (Verdens Gang/Sunday)

Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss (Con) is planning to take money away from families whose children go to organized after-school care schemes (SFO) to finance cheaper pre-school nurseries. Together with reductions in child benefits, the cut in SFO funding is meant to finance the expensive reform of the pre-school day care sector which the opposition parties have pushed through the Storting against the minority Government’s will. This is a declaration of war on the backers of the pre-school nursery reform, particularly the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party. These parties are completely opposed to the Government taking from families of school-age children with one hand to pay for the pre-school nursery reform with the other.

Labour wants Christian alliance (Vårt Land)

The Labour Party needs alliances with Christians to climb out of its electoral trough, according to party secretary Martin Kolberg. "At heart we have an identical objective. The previous, hard front between us must be erased," he said. At this weekend’s meeting of the Christian Workers’ Association, Mr Kolberg said that politics needs more Christian morality and ethics.

The bank wins (Dagsavisen/Sunday)

The fraudulent use of stolen bank cards is increasingly widespread. But the victims of such fraud lose in four out of five cases brought against the issuing banks. As a rule the banks’ claims that cardholders have acted negligently are upheld. This means the victims themselves are liable to cover losses up to NOK 8,000. So far this year the Complaints Board for Consumers in Banking and Finance Matters has been asked to consider almost 400 cases of disputes between banks and their customers regarding the misuse of bank cards. This is already as many cases as in the whole of last year, and we are heading for a record.

Call for tightening of rules on party donations (Verdens Gang)

Jens Stoltenberg is fed up with the secrecy surrounding the identity of those who make cash donations to political parties. The Labour Party leadership has now called for the legislation to be tightened to avoid a ‘culture of cronyism’. "It does not matter whether it is the main party, or a county or local branch which receives the donation. The law must be widened to include all levels. Donors must accept the harsh light of public scrutiny," said Mr Stoltenberg.

End to secrecy on Iraq war (Klassekampen/Saturday)

The Centre Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Progress Party have put an end to the Government’s efforts to keep a lid on the debate on Norway’s relations with Nato, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The parties refuse to accept that these issues should be kept within the confines of the Storting’s extended Foreign Affairs Committee, which has a secret agenda and whose members are sworn to secrecy. It was Åslaug Haga of the Centre Party who took the initiative for the alliance, which has put an end to the Government’s policy of secrecy.

Worth Noting

• Three children were slain in Norway during the weekend. "What has happened this weekend is so terrible that I am almost without words. Violence against children is never a private affair. It is society’s responsibility and involves us all," said Children and Family Affairs Minister Laila Dåvøy, who is currently working on the Government’s family report.
  (Verdens Gang)
• The Constitution must be amended and the impeachment procedure abolished, according to a commission which has been looking at the controls on government in this country. From now on ministers may be forced to appear before ordinary courts if they break the law. The change will probably be approved by the Storting.
  (Aftenposten)
• Neither Labour’s Jens Stoltenberg nor the Socialist Left Party’s Kristin Halvorsen intend to camp outside Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss’s office door with proposals for resolving the budget process. "The Progress Party ensured that this government came into office. It is a poor thing if the Government cannot manage to put together a budget on the basis of its coalition manifesto," said incoming Labour leader Jens Stoltenberg.
  (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• In just one year the number of psychiatric patients waiting for treatment has risen by almost 500. The increase of over six per cent comes at a time when billions more is being spent on the mental health sector. Health Minister Dagfinn Høybråten is not happy with the situation.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• The majority of people in Norway have little or no confidence in the World Bank, the WTO, the IMF and multinational companies.
  (Klassekampen)
• The majority of the country’s parish councils do not want the Church of Norway to be disestablished. They reject the idea out of hand, putting the church’s rank and file on a collision course with the ecclesiastical leadership.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• The national budgets adopted during the 1990s resulted in substantial cuts in the areas of environmental and regional policy, while overall financial transfers to local authorities remained unchanged from 1993 until last year.
  (Aftenposten)
• A number of trade unions belonging to the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) are planning a major strike against the Bondevik government and what they describe as the "brutalization of working life". The two-hour political strike could turn into a massive protest against the budget.
  (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)
• The high share prices reached two and a half years ago disappeared in a puff of smoke. Now the companies themselves are gone. 31 IT and telecommunications companies have either been bought up by competitors or have simply gone bust.
  (Aftenposten)
• The shares belonging to seven out of ten companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange have barely any turnover. Many people are now calling for something to be done about those companies with little or no trading in their shares.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Young Norwegian men demand huge salaries, preferably with a substantial bonus thrown in for good measure. Their salary demands are the highest in the Nordic region. Women ask for much less.
  (Aftenposten/Sunday)

Today’s comment from Dagbladet

The capitalist system requires a competition watchdog. Without such a body the capitalists ensure that competition is eliminated. The Norwegian Competition Authority is therefore right to try and create a buffer zone between the old monopolist, SAS, and the newcomer to the air travel market, Norwegian. It would be unfair competition if the monopolist were allowed to manipulate its prices on routes in which SAS meets competition and those where it does not in such a way that Norwegian does not stand a chance. But the Competition Authority must be careful how it acts. It may very well have an idea about how much market strength a newcomer should have in order for a competitive market to arise. But it should not have too strong an opinion on how the companies themselves should be run. In a dynamic economy new competitors must continually be expected to enter the market. In such a situation the Competition Authority cannot give one competitor advantages which it denies to another. However, there is so far no such danger in the Norwegian air travel market.