Voters say Government doing a rotten job (Dagbladet/Saturday)

This is the birthday message to the Government from half of Norway’s voters. Kjell Magne Bondevik’s minority coalition government is celebrating its first birthday today, but the voters’ response is not noticeably enthusiastic. A substantial 49 per cent of the electorate think the Government is doing a rotten job. Only six per cent feel its performance is good, according to a survey carried out by MMI. Even the coalition parties’ own voters are far from satisfied with the Government’s efforts. Only one in three of the Christian Democrat voters surveyed said that the Government was doing a good job. The MMI poll shows that Conservative voters are far more satisfied with the Government. Figures for the Liberal Party in this poll were too small to draw a conclusion from, but the trend is the same as for the other two parties.

Unwelcome first-birthday present for Government (Aftenposten/Sunday)

Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen yesterday warned his party’s local politicians that they will soon have to decide whether the minority Bondevik government should be voted out of office. The Government received no hearty birthday wishes from the Progress Party, which was meeting at Gardermoen yesterday. Both party chairman Carl I. Hagen and deputy leader Siv Jensen railed against the Government and its budget proposals. Mr Hagen asked his cohorts to prepare themselves for the prospect of another vote of confidence over the budget. He also said that this would be a difficult decision for the Progress Party. "If the coalition is ousted it will lead to a new government made up of the Labour Party, Christian Democrats and Socialist Left Party. Obviously, this is something we do not want. On the other hand, the Progress Party cannot back down every single time. If we did, we would lose credibility with our voters," said Mr Hagen.

Bondevik rejects Hagen’s alcohol tax demand (Dagsavisen/Sunday)

According to Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, the Christian Democrats would not under any circumstances accept the Progress Party’s demand for a 25 per cent cut in duties on wines and spirits. "To cut alcohol taxes to the extent demanded by the Progress Party is out of the question for us. Its impact would be dramatic in terms of alcohol-related damage to health" said the PM. He is impatient with Mr Hagen’s claim that Norway’s high level of alcohol taxes is responsible for the recent deaths resulting from methanol poisoning. "It is out of proportion to use these methanol-related fatalities as an argument for lowering alcohol taxes, when we know that the number of alcohol-related deaths is currently running at around 700 a year. I will not be a party to increasing that figure by another 100," said Mr Bondevik.

Unknown woman from Rogaland could be new Labour deputy (Aftenposten/Saturday)

The Labour Party is searching for a female deputy leader who is not from the Oslo area. Eirin K. Sund from Rogaland County has been proposed. She told Aftenposten that she would accept the challenge if she were called upon. The Labour Party’s selection committee is searching high and low for a female deputy leader behind whom the party can unite. The woman must come from one of the Norwegian regions, and she should preferably have strong links to the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). At the same time, she should know her way around the party, but not be part of the circle surrounding the Oslo-based Labour leadership and the party’s parliamentary group. As if that were not enough, she must also be of a political calibre which does not antagonize the so-called Giske wing of the party.

Christian Democrat leader says she will go if she must (Dagbladet/Saturday)

Valgerd Svarstad Haugland has now acknowledged that she may be forced to resign as chairman of the Christian Democratic Party. But she is not particularly keen to do so. On the first anniversary of the sitting government, she admitted frankly that things have been tough for the Christian Democrats lately. Support for the party has dropped to just six per cent in the polls. On Friday a majority of Christian Democrat branch leaders said that they wanted a debate on the party leadership which also extended to Ms Svarstad Haugland’s position as chairman. "On the whole I enjoy being party leader, but none of us is guaranteed our position. I am also up for re-election, and the decision about whether I am to continue is, in any case, not mine alone to take. I will listen to the advice of those around me," she said.

Norway should have backed France’s proposal (Klassekampen/Saturday)

According to Stein Tønnessen of the International Peace Research Institute: "It would be a shame if the last thing Norway does as a member of the UN Security Council is to contribute to a war in Iraq". On Thursday evening Norway’s Ambassador to the UN, Ole Petter Kolby, addressed the Security Council on the situation in Iraq. Mr Kolby said nothing in his speech about Norway’s stance in relation to the tug-of-war which has been going on all week between rival resolutions. Nor did the speech reflect any change in Norway’s position on the issue since the USA almost three weeks ago began its efforts to get a resolution adopted by the Security Council. "When a final proposal for a resolution has been produced, we will, of course, take this into account," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Karsten Klepsvik. "If the Security Council comes up with a solution contained in one resolution, Norway will back it. But if there are two proposed resolutions, we will not oppose that either," said Mr Klepsvik.

Uncharitable ethical fund (Dagbladet/Saturday)

No charitable or other voluntary organizations have been included on the committee charged with drawing up a set of ethical guidelines for Norway’s Government Petroleum Fund. But the Government has found room on the committee for the Norwegian Central Bank and representatives of the oil industry. "It is extremely disappointing that they have not included any charitable or voluntary organizations," said Arild Hermstad, leader of The Future in Our Hands, which, along with Norwatch, has been pushing to get the Petroleum Fund to take ethical considerations when it makes investment decisions. Nor have organizations such as the Institute of Applied Social Science (FAFO), the environmental foundation Bellona or the Forum for Development and the Environment been asked to join the committee, which the Government announced yesterday. Knowledgeable critics seem to have been omitted.

Norwegian weapons exports doubled (NTB/Saturday)

Norwegian weapons exports have risen sharply. So far this year, Norway has exported almost twice as much armaments as during the whole of last year. Figures from Statistics Norway show that Norwegian weapons exports during the first nine months of the year amounted to NOK 1.17 billion. The figure for the whole of last year was NOK 646 million. Norwatch reports Sissel Solum, communications coordinator for Nammo Raufoss, as saying: "The defence industry is doing relatively better than other sectors, following last year’s September 11 terrorist attacks." Most of the sales come under the category bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, rockets and ammunition.

Suspicion enough for insurance companies (Aftenposten/Saturday)

Insurance companies want the police to investigate all customers suspected of making fraudulent claims. But the Director General of Public Prosecutions is dubious. The insurance industry estimates that customers swindle insurers to the tune of NOK 3 billion a year. Around 10 per cent of all insurance payouts are thought to be based on fraudulent claims. Gjensidige NOR insures 1,800 Norwegian students in Australia. After having received 295 claims from students this year, the company sent an inspector to the other side of the world. Three students admitted making false claims and said that it was common to fabricate stories about fictitious thefts.

1. Worth Noting

• The privately-owned biotech company, Genova, has been refused permission by the Data Inspectorate to link the results of blood tests with the personal details supplied by blood donors. The company, in which the controversial professor Kåre Berg is a shareholder, wants to collect blood tests and medical histories from Norwegian citizens, and carry out research on our genes. The project is called Norwegian Heritage.
  (Verdens Gang/Saturday)
• Norway’s Public Roads Administration is linking north and south together in Afghanistan. The Public Roads Administration is to lead the reconstruction of the bomb-damaged Salang tunnel, which is the only road between the north and south of the country that is passable in winter. This is one of the first major reconstruction projects to get underway in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.
  (Aftenposten/Sunday)
• At least nine out of Oslo Sporveier’s 15-member Corporate Assembly will vote against the board’s proposal to close a number of tram lines, when it meets on Wednesday. Oslo Sporveier’s employees have forced the issue to be reconsidered. Together with politicians from the Labour Party, Socialist Left Party and Red Electoral Alliance, they are about to save Oslo’s tram system from being axed in the name of cost cutting.
  (Dagsavisen)
• According to a survey carried out by Norsk Gallup, 14,600 readers of the farmers’ trade journal, Bondebladet, are Progress Party voters. Both the Progress Party and the Conservatives have increased their support among the magazine’s readership, while the Labour Party’s popularity has fallen.
  (Nationen/Saturday)
• Support for the Labour Party has slumped to 17.5 per cent, according to a recent poll published in Vårt Land. Only 7.6 per cent of the electorate are certain that they will vote Labour at the next election. The Progress Party is almost twice as popular. 16.6 per cent say that they are sure to vote for the Progress Party. 4.1 per cent back the Prime Minister’s Christian Democratic Party.
  (Vårt Land)
• Norway’s engineering industry is spending less and less on research and innovation. Investments have fallen by NOK 1.3 billion in the past two years.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Neither the security equipment nor security services being supplied to public and private companies are good enough, according to security expert Morten Østerhaug. The largest security firms generated gross revenues of NOK 2.4 billion last year. But despite this, the number of incidents involving fire and theft continues to increase.
  (Aftenposten)
• We complain about food being expensive in the shops, but do not baulk at buying even more expensive food from petrol stations and convenience stores. These outlets are increasing their market share, and last year sold food products to the tune of almost NOK 16 billion. According to figures published by market analysts ACNielsen yesterday, sales of groceries from petrol stations and convenience stores rose by almost 15 per cent from 1999 to 2001, while sales of groceries in ordinary supermarkets rose by just over nine per cent during the same period.

2. Today’s comment from Nationen

This weekend Kjell Magne Bondevik’s second coalition government celebrated its first birthday. The Norwegian people’s birthday gift to the three coalition parties was an opinion poll, published in Dabladet, which showed that only six per cent of us think the Government is doing a good job. No previous government has ever been held in such poor regard by the people, since this kind of opinion poll was first undertaken. It is not easy to hold office when the economic cycle is going the wrong way. It demands tough choices, which are bound to affect different parts of the population. And, as we well know, the majority of voters find it difficult to understand why it is precisely them who have been singled out to "pay the bill", when there is no longer money enough to fund every good cause. It is difficult to find a rational answer for the general Norwegian feeling of discontent. But it is there – and it has given us a political landscape in which room to manoeuvre is limited. One year ago it seemed obvious that the Government would stay in power for the remainder of the parliamentary term. This does not seem quite so obvious now. It is, in fact, possible that Jens Stoltenberg or Jan Petersen could be the one to hold the Prime Minister’s traditional New Year speech. The very fact that such a possibility exists shows how steep the slippery slope has been for Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik over the past year. And even if the Government does survive this autumn, it is a long time until the next general election. Particularly for Mr Bondevik.