Government in 12-day hunt for budget lifeline (Aftenposten)

The chances of Jens Stoltenberg reluctantly returning to office rose following yesterday’s breakdown of budget negotiations between the Labour Party and the ruling coalition parties. The Government is still clinging to the hope that a last-minute solution will be found. It is twelve days until the finance debate in the Storting, which is the deadline for an alternative budget package. When the two sides broke off negotiations yesterday morning, the Government had already agreed to give Mr Stoltenberg half the cash that he was asking for. But it had rejected a nine-point list of demands for a change of political direction on such issues as private schools and private pensions. The two sides also disagreed strongly on how the adjustments to the budget should be financed, and at what point in the negotiations this question should be discussed. An approach to the Socialist Left Party did not come to anything either, which leaves the Government back at square one.

Hagen waiting in the wings (Dagsavisen)

The Progress Party is willing to restart budget negotiations with the Government. The price Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik will have to pay to remain in office is NOK 5 billion – in writing. The Progress Party does not intend to be tricked again, as its leaders feel they were during the preliminary round of negotiations earlier this autumn. The Progress Party emphasizes that the Government’s new offer must be "concrete", "well-ordered" and "substantive".

Progress Party unwilling to rescue Bondevik (Aftenposten)

Progress Party branch chairmen are not very keen on saving the Prime Minister’s bacon if the budget issue ends in a vote of confidence in Kjell Magne Bondevik’s government being called. Aftenposten spoke yesterday to 15 of the party’s 19 branch chairmen. Eight were frankly opposed to rescuing the Government in the event of a vote of confidence, seven declined to answer until the question had been debated by the party’s local decision-making bodies. But the majority of these seven made it plain that they personally were not terribly interested in saving Mr Bondevik.

Friendless (Dagbladet)

The opposition parties have turned their backs on Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and his minority coalition government. Both the Labour Party and the Socialist Left Party yesterday refused to do a deal with the Government over the budget, which means that the PM could be forced to gamble his government’s future by demanding a vote of confidence in order to get his budget proposal adopted by the Storting. But for the moment, Mr Bondevik can feel safe. Even though the opposition parties do not want to negotiate with the ruling coalition, none of them wants to actually topple the Government. For this reason the country will, in all probability, get a budget in the end. But the price the politicians must pay is increased public contempt. Only a small minority of voters have any understanding of the political game of poker which the Storting and the Government are engaged in.

More money does not lead to more knowledge (Dagsavisen)

Lots of cash and small classes does not create academic high-flyers. Teaching in smaller groups can, at worst, lead to reduced self-esteem and poorer grades. "The problem in Norwegian schools is not a lack of money, but the fact that schools lack sound educational techniques. Teachers, for example, do not know which teaching methods result in effective learning," said professor Asbjørn Birkemo of the University of Oslo’s Department of Educational Research. In cooperation with researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, he has carried out the largest ever study of the link between the use of resources in Norwegian schools and pupils’ learning outcomes.

Labour and coalition parties gain ground (Aftenposten)

Jens Stoltenberg has reason to smile. In the first opinion poll published since he became party chairman, Labour has moved ahead by three percentage points. Support for the Labour Party now stands at 23.6 per cent, the party’s best result for a whole year. Both the Conservatives and the Christian Democrats have gained a couple of points each. For the Progress Party, whose support has skyrocketed since the summer and is more than twice what it was at the general election last autumn, the poll represents a step back. Support for the party has dropped by 3.5 percentage points to end on 29.5 per cent. However, this still makes the Progress Party more popular than the three ruling coalition parties put together.

Sponheim signals change of heart on EU membership (Aftenposten)

Lars Sponheim, leader of the Liberal Party and Agriculture Minister, has signalled that he could change his mind on the issue of Norwegian membership of the EU once the EU has completed its current expansion programme and constitutional reforms are in place. He opposed Norwegian membership at the 1994 referendum. "But I am adult enough not to shut my eyes to reality. We see that the EU is turning into the pan-European organization we talked about in my youth. An EU comprising almost the whole of Europe, and with the new governing structures in place – indeed, the time has come to test my position against the new reality," he said.

1. Worth Noting

• The Government’s proposed tax cuts will put more money in the pockets of those who are already extremely affluent. The elderly have most to gain, while the younger sections of society will be left holding the baby, according to the Socialist Left Party.
  (Dagsavisen)
• The Socialist Left Party has asked a record number of questions about the budget. The party has bombarded the Ministry of Finance with 225 questions on next year’s national budget.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Kjell-Inge Røkke wants to operate oil and gas fields in the North Sea himself. Mr Røkke’s company, Aker Energy, wants to become an operator on a par with Norsk Hydro and Statoil. In October Mr Røkke’s wholly-owned company, Aker Energy, applied for approval as an operator on the Norwegian continental shelf.
  (Verdens Gang)
• In just two years government employees have doubled the amount they have borrowed from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund. The Fund, which provides loans at discounted interest rates to civil servants, is on the point of becoming a larger lender than the major high-street banks.
  (Aftenposten)
• Norsk Hydro has warned MPs not to engage in a second round of squabbling over where the gas from the company’s Ormen Lange field should be brought ashore. According to Norsk Hydro, renewed debate could boost the cost by up to NOK 2 billion.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Tourists to southern Europe will finally feel the benefits of the strong Norwegian currency. Ving and Saga are slashing their prices. Ving has promised that next year’s summer holiday will be at least NOK 6,000 cheaper for a family of four.
  (Aftenposten)
• Harald Vestøl (Con), mayor of Birkenes, has launched himself controversially into the debate on local government financing. "Construction of the new national opera house in Oslo should be postponed until Norway’s local authorities have got their finances in order," he said, and has called on his fellow local government administrators to rise up in protest.
  (Nationen)

2. Today’s comment from Dagens Næringsliv

The breakdown of budget negotiations between the minority government and the Labour Party seems unnecessary, but comes as no surprise. The two sides’ common desire to prevent Carl I. Hagen and the Progress Party from using ordinary Norwegians as guinea-pigs for their untried economic theories, was not enough to frighten the traditional adversaries into reaching agreement. The Government will continue to go through the motions, trying to put together a compromise deal. But the most likely scenario now is that when the Storting’s Finance Committee announces its budget recommendation, it will not have the backing of a parliamentary majority. The Government will then demand a vote of confidence in order to push through its budget. At least, that is what the Government should do, and not just because "the country needs a budget". Minority government is nothing new in Norwegian parliamentary history. Norway has had a majority government for only eight years since 1961. Responsibility for what happens next will largely rest with the Progress Party – the party that ushered the Bondevik government into office. If the Government were to lose a vote of confidence, the outcome could be messy since there are practically no viable alternatives to the current three-party coalition. Despite his threats to do the opposite, there is a good chance that Carl I. Hagen will tell his troops to sheath their swards. For the Government, the issue should be simple. Ensuring that Norway’s democratic process functions as it should, ought to be more important than safeguarding its own position. For this reason Kjell Magne Bondevik should demand a vote of confidence in his government.