Jens Stoltenberg accepted as leader (Dagsavisen)

Last night Thorbjørn Jagland announced that he would resign as chairman of the Labour Party at the party’s annual conference in November. The decision comes following two weeks’ reflection, rest and recuperation. Mr Jagland has been on sick leave since he suffered a collapse at the Storting and had to be rushed to hospital. "As Labour Party chairman it is up to me to pull the party back from a damaging power struggle, so that we can devote our energies to winning back the confidence we lost at last year’s general election," said Mr Jagland. Several of his supporters have now indicated they are willing to call off the leadership dispute and let Jens Stoltenberg take over as the Labour Party’s new chairman.

Taken by surprise (Dagbladet)

Jens Stoltenberg learned of Thorbjørn Jagland’s decision to resign only shortly before it was made public on NRK Radio’s news bulletin, Dagsnytt. "I learned of the decision before it was made public. This reflects his evaluation of what is best for the Labour Party and for himself. It is a decision I both understand and respect. We have been discussing the situation in the party since Christmas, but the decision Mr Jagland has made is his own and is not something we have discussed between us," said Mr Stoltenberg. Once again Mr Jagland chose to inform his good friend Yngve Hågensen, former president of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), before letting Mr Stoltenberg know of his decision.

Giske loses out (Verdens Gang)

According to Labour branch chairman and other centrally placed sources in the party, it is unlikely that Trond Giske will become Jens Stoltenberg’s new deputy. On the other hand, Bjarne Håkon Hanssen is steadily gaining ground. Mr Giske has for a long time been tipped as Jens Stoltenberg’s heir-apparent, but only 17 of the branch chairmen VG spoke to last night pointed to former Education Minister Trond Giske as a potential candidate for the deputy leader slot.

Still has Bondevik in his sights (Dagbladet/Sunday)

Carl I. Hagen believes the Labour Party’s internal problems and the election result will make the Bondevik government’s position more secure. Mr Hagen feels that Labour will try and avoid taking office at any price. But Jens Stoltenberg sees things differently. "No, we are not letting Bondevik off the hook. We are prepared to oppose the Government and be the leading opposition party," he said. However, there is little doubt that it would take a great deal to get Labour back into power during this parliamentary term.

Steensnæs forced to back down (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

Petroleum and Energy Minister Einar Steensnæs has been forced to bow to pressure from his Conservative coalition partners. He has now said he will not refuse to grant Naturkraft an extension of its concession to build polluting gas-fired power stations after 2004. "It is possible that I have been interpreted as being more stringent than I meant to be," said Mr Steensnæs, referring to the message he gave Naturkraft last Tuesday. The Minister will now devote his efforts to persuading Naturkraft to build emission-free gas-fired power stations.

Billions in dispute after hospital reform (Aftenposten)

14 out of 19 county authorities have taken their case to an arbitration panel following disputes over the valuation of assets in connection with the recent hospital reform, in which the state took over ownership of the hospitals from the county authorities. The bitter conflict concerns, among other things, disagreements over the amount payable for employee housing property, land, pharmacy buildings and teaching premises. According to Halvdan Skard of the Norwegian Association of Local Authorities, the state has robbed the county authorities of assets in breach of the Constitution. "I am disappointed and feel they are being miserly," says Mr Skard of the Government’s negotiators.

No more than NOK 0.36 in the kitty (Dagens Næringsliv)

If the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions and Kjell Bjørndalen, head of the Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions, stick to their policy that industrial wages growth should match our trading partners, it would mean just NOK 0.36 in the kitty for this spring’s wage negotiations. This is the equivalent of a 0.2 per cent rise. At the beginning of March Mr Bjørndalen will sit down at the negotiating table to thrash out a deal on behalf of 30,000 to 40,000 manufacturing industry workers.

Worth Noting

• The EU has no intention of changing one single word of the EEA Agreement before its expansion eastwards has been completed. This means that a future revision of the agreement will be much more tricky because Norway and Iceland will be negotiating with 25 EU members. The postponement of a new EEA Agreement has prompted Iceland to start considering becoming a member of the EU instead. (Aftenposten/Sunday)
• Support for EU membership has jumped 5.7 points according to the latest poll by Sentio-Norsk Statistikk, and now stands at 42.1 per cent. Although opposition to EU membership has dropped a corresponding amount, opponents are still ahead with 47.1 per cent. (Nationen/Saturday)
• Gro Harlem Brundtland, president of the WHO, has chosen to remain silent regarding the sorry state of the Norwegian Labour Party. Support for the party has practically collapsed since she resigned as leader. "If I said anything now, it would get very hectic around here," she said. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• The Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) will shortly launch a campaign to encourage its 16,000 member companies to hang onto their older employees. The NHO hopes that its members will succeed in persuading their older employees to stay in the job until they reach the normal retirement age of 67, rather than taking early retirement. (Dagsavisen)
• The parents of a seven-year-old boy who died after being savaged by four dogs last Thursday hope that their son’s death will lead to stricter laws on dog-ownership. (Dagbladet/Saturday)
• In the course of six months around 2,000 people have been bitten by dogs. But during the period investigated only one of the dogs was put down against its owners’ will. And that dog had bitten a policeman. (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• The punishment for allowing dogs to wander the streets by themselves could be cut from two years’ imprisonment to just a fine. Justice Minister Odd Einar Dørum is now having to consider this proposal, which was made by the previous Labour government. The Storting will debate this controversial issue in the autumn. (Verdens Gang/Saturday)
• Newly appointed head of the Immigration Directorate (UDI), Trygve G. Nordby, has promised that the enormous backlog of cases waiting to be reviewed by the UDI will have disappeared by 1 July. "We shall do our best to reach this goal," he said. (Verdens Gang)
• Membership of Christian children’s and youth organizations has dropped to almost a fifth. Sunday schools have been hardest hit. (Aftenposten)

Today’s comment from Aftenposten

Thorbjørn Jagland has devoted most of his adult life to the Social Democratic Labour Movement. Unafraid, and often with unwavering singleness of purpose, he has fought for the ideas, opinions and strategies that he at any particular moment believed were right. For more than 20 years he has at his best inspired party colleagues to labour and struggle for social democratic ideals – first as leader of the Labour youth wing (AUF), then as party secretary and finally chairman. But Mr Jagland has also incited internal disputes, both in the scant year he was prime minister and after the Labour Party’s crushing defeats in the local elections of 1999 and last year’s general election. In the weeks before Mr Jagland’s collapse three weeks ago, the leadership race between himself and Jens Stoltenberg developed into a bitter struggle within the party, a struggle which took all attention away from Labour’s main challenge – to get back on its political feet after the general election disaster. We agree with those in the Labour Party who say that Mr Jagland’s decision not to seek another two years as party chairman at the party conference in November, deserves respect. Mr Jagland describes the situation very aptly when he writes in his letter to party members that as party chairman it is up to him to ‘pull the party back from a damaging power struggle’. Under the circumstances the best thing Mr Jagland could do for his beloved party was to declare his intention not to stand for re-election as chairman.