Labour intends to hammer the rich (Verdens Gang)

The Labour Party intends to make such tough demands for increased tax on the country’s wealthiest citizens in its budget negotiations with the ruling coalition that a government crisis could be inevitable. This morning at 9 o’clock, the coalition parties will begin negotiating with the Labour Party’s parliamentary group. Dagbladet has learned of the tough tax increases Labour will demand before it agrees to a budget settlement with the minority Bondevik government. Labour’s demands are so tough that the coalition parties will have great difficulty accepting them. A government crisis this autumn has therefore moved another step closer.

Not a word of criticism against Putin (Klassekampen)

Foreign Minister Jan Petersen (Con) is studiously avoiding doing anything to irritate Russia ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s brief state visit next week. Mr Petersen did not utter a word of criticism about Russia’s military actions in Chechnya, Russian human rights violations or Russia’s massive pressure on Denmark, when he opened a seminar on Russia on Tuesday. Amnesty International is highly critical of Norway’s lack of focus on Russian human rights violations ahead of Mr Putin’s visit, and will raise the issue on Wednesday with one of Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik’s State Secretaries. "Norway’s position is that the Chechnya conflict can only be solved politically. Our joint efforts against terrorism must abide by international norms for human rights and international law," said Mr Petersen in his opening address, which painted a very positive overall picture of relations between Norway and Russia. In his speech at the Foreign Office seminar, Russia’s ambassador to Norway, veteran diplomat Y.A. Kvitsinski, reiterated Russia’s hard line on Chechnya.

Chief of Defence Staff calls for more detailed guidelines (Aftenposten)

No one will be transferred, sacked or reprimanded as a result of the cluster bomb scandal at the Hjerkinn firing range. But several officers will receive an "admonishment", the mildest punishment that Chief of Defence Staff Gen Sigurd Frisvold can give. But the public will not be told which officers will be "admonished", no mention of which will be attached to their records. It will be up to Major General Thomas Colin Archer, Chief of Staff Royal Norwegian Air Force, and Lt Gen Thorstein Skiaker, Commander-in-Chief Southern Norway, to decide whose wrists should be lightly slapped. General Frisvold has called for more detailed guidelines for what Defence Minister Kristin Krohn Devold considers to be controversial, in order to avoid further blunders.

Stoltenberg expects three more years in opposition (Dagsavisen)

Jens Stoltenberg, incoming leader of the Labour Party, has no ambitions to take office before 2005. His political long-range forecast is therefore for three more years of Conservative rule. Mr Stoltenberg thinks the most realistic alternative to the current Bondevik-led coalition is a purely Conservative government, or a coalition made up of the Conservatives and the Progress Party. Mr Stoltenberg is looking forward to the Labour Party’s annual conference, at which the bitter conflicts between leading Labour politicians will be laid to rest. However, he does not believe that this alone will be enough to raise the party out of its current doldrums. To do that, Labour must learn to take a critical view of society.

Røkke warns of trouble ahead (Klassekampen)

If the Storting approves the Government’s proposed changes to the law regulating companies’ duty to pay the wages of staff that are temporarily laid off, it could sound the death knell for one or more offshore construction yards, according to Kjell Inge Røkke, Aker Kværner’s major shareholder. The Aker Kværner yards in Verdal, Stord, Stavanger and Egersund employ a total of 3,200 people. As part of its national budget proposal, the Government announced plans to change the law regulating temporary lay-offs, extending the period during which employers must pay the wages of those laid off from three to 20 days. For seasonal and cyclical industries the possibility of temporarily laying off staff is a safety valve which allows them to retain skilled workers through periods of inactivity.

Opposition slams Immigration Directorate proposal (Dagsavisen)

The Labour Party, Socialist Left Party and Centre Party have warned the Government not to let the Immigration Directorate (UDI) take away the right of eastern European asylum seekers to appeal against the UDI’s decisions and their right to legal assistance. The Progress Party is calling for "presumably bogus" asylum seekers to be turned away at the border. "We need new measures to cut the processing time, which is why these proposals are being considered. It is not certain that this group of people needs legal assistance during the first phase of processing. They will still be interviewed individually, and their right to due process under the law will be taken care of," said Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg (Con). The proposed measures have provoked strong negative reactions both in the Norwegian Bar Association and the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS). If Ms Solberg decides to implement the proposals, the opposition parties in the Storting will attempt to stop her.

Bellona applauds Røkke (Dagens Næringsliv)

"Give this man a free hand in the North Sea," said Bellona’s Frederic Hauge, referring to Kjell Inge Røkke’s plans to specialize in the production of oil from small fields in the North Sea. Aker Kværner’s chairman, Kjell Inge Røkke, believes there is a fortune to be made from extracting oil from the smaller North Sea fields, as well as taking over production at the end of larger fields’ life spans, so-called tail production. "In the next 10 to 20 years, there is at least NOK 100 million to be made from tail production," said Mr Røkke yesterday, when he addressed the Oslo Petroleum Conference. It is Aker Energy, led by Sverre Skogen, which is to specialize in tail production as well as the closure of oil fields and the decommissioning of production platforms.

Worth Noting

• Kjell Magne Bondevik is set to become the first Norwegian prime minister to publicly dissent from a decision taken by his own government and sent to the Storting for approval. Mr Bondevik plans to dissent from the Government’s decision in order to demonstrate his opposition to controversial EU directive which makes it possible to take out a patent on human life.
  (Vårt Land)
• Incoming Labour Party chairman Jens Stoltenberg is the person most people would like to see as Prime Minister, according to a poll carried out by Norsk Gallup on behalf of TV2. Mr Stoltenberg tops the popularity stakes with 21 per cent of the vote, followed by the Progress Party’s Carl I. Hagen on 19 per cent and current Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik on 17.5 per cent.
  (NTB)
• At the same time as Russia’s president next week pays an amputated and low-key official visit to Norway, he will take the time for a separate meeting in Oslo with the German Chancellor. Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik will therefore not only be able to enjoy rubbing shoulders with the upper crust of the international political scene, he can also bathe in the reflected glory of something as unusual as a Russo-German summit on Norwegian soil.
  (Aftenposten)
• The leaders of six out of seven small businesses are dissatisfied with the Government’s industrial policies, according to a survey carried out by the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. "The politicians are only interested in redistributing the wealth, not creating it," said Stig Drønnen, general manager of the engineering company, Skarbøvik Mekaniske AS, in Ålesund.
  (Nationen)
• Rune Gerhardsen wants to get rid of the controversial agreement which gives the Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees particular influence over Labour Party policies. Jens Stoltenberg is not convinced. Mr Gerhardsen, who has been nominated as Labour’s candidate for the chairmanship of the Oslo City Council’s Municipal Executive Board at next year’s local elections, says he will initiate steps to rescind the agreement if he is elected.
  (Aftenposten)
• In the past six months, 21 out of Norway’s 50 largest companies have appointed women to senior executive positions or voted them onto their boards of directors, according to recent figures. Marit Hoel, leader of the Centre for Management, Diversity and Equality, and one of the country’s leading experts on women in management, believes the figures show that major changes are taking place.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Johan Fr. Odfjell will tomorrow be nominated to take over as chairman of Orkla from Tom Ruud. Mr Odfjell will become Orkla’s fifth chairman in two years. Mr Odfjell describes himself as a self-employed consultant, but estimates that he spends half of his time as a director of various companies.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Once again Christen Sveaas is a major shareholder in a company on the verge of being taken over. For a long time, and unknown to anyone, the troubled investor has been the major shareholder of the offshore company, DSND. Mr Sveaas has lost several billion kroner on the stock market this year. For this reason he would probably like the American company, Cal Dive, to kick off a bidding war for DSND. This is the exact opposite of what Mr Sveaas’s former partner, Kristian Siem, wants.
  (Aftenposten)
• Time-sheet fiddles, poaching clients from colleagues and promising clients a share of the fees paid to public defenders. According to high-profile attorney Cato Schiøtz, known for his work on the Liland and Orderud cases, these ethically dubious practices are common among certain criminal trial lawyers in their battle to capture clients.
  (Aftenposten)
• General practitioners receive over NOK 203 million each year to dispense advice to patients over the phone. Payouts for this service have skyrocketed since the introduction of the primary GP scheme.
  (Dagsavisen)
• According to former Agriculture Minister Bjarne Håkon Hanssen, an entrenched and inflexible civil service makes it almost impossible for politicians to change anything at all. He was not even able to change the import duty on frogs’ legs.
  (Nationen)

Today’s comment from Dagsavisen

The Labour Party and the ruling coalition parties decided yesterday to try and negotiate an agreement on next year’s national budget. The two sides are not so far apart as to make agreement impossible. In our opinion it would be the best thing for the country, the Government and the Labour Party if they were to succeed. Good luck!