THE ROYAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Oslo
Press Division

NORWAY DAILY No. 124/00

DATE: 4 July 2000

INTENDS TO STAY FOR A WHILE (Aftenposten)

Arne Wam, who has been appointed acting group managing director of the Norwegian State Railways (NSB), has no plans to be a nine days’ wonder at the NSB. The NSB board is continuing its quest for a permanent director while Arne Wam takes his place in the director’s chair for a while. Yesterday Arent M. Henriksen, chairman of the board, gave himself a year to find the best chief executive for the NSB. Mr. Wam believes that the best candidate for the position has already been found, and on his first day on the job he announced that he will restructure the company’s leadership. And according to Mr. Wam, in the future trains will be on schedule.

PROGRESS AND CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS LACK CONFIDENCE IN BOARD (Aftenposten)

In the view of the Progress Party and the Christian Democratic Party, the board of the NSB should have resigned rather than dismissing Osmund Ueland. The chairman of the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications, Oddvar Nilsen (Conservative Party), demands that the board explain more clearly why it lost confidence in Mr. Ueland. "We have to know what the board thinks, and why Mr. Ueland had to go," says Mr. Nilsen. Sverre Myrli of the Labour Party does not agree that the Standing Committee must be informed as to what happened in the NSB. "The NSB board reports to the Minister of Transport and Communications, not to the Storting," says Mr. Myrli.

COUNTY REORGANIZATION IS A HEADACHE FOR LABOUR (Dagsavisen)

The proposal to reduce the number of counties to 10-15 is probably the worst possible scenario for the Labour Party. It ruins any chance of reaching a compromise. The delegates to Labour’s national party congress in November will be representing their respective counties. As a result, many of them have both regular jobs and political appointments within the framework of the county municipalities. Eliminating the county municipalities will thus have a direct impact on the lives of many of the delegates.

EMERGENCY PLAN FOR FREE ACCESS (Nationen)

Municipalities that permit their shorelines to be closed off and are too liberal in granting exemptions from building regulations may risk forfeiting the right to administer their own coastlines. The Directorate for Nature Management has proposed introducing this emergency measure in municipalities from Østfold to Hordaland in order to secure free public access to beaches. "This is a declaration of war on local self-government," says the chairman of the Storting’s Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment, Jan Tore Sanner (Conservative Party), who promises to fight this proposal.

USE MORE OF OUR OIL REVENUES (Dagens Næringsliv)

Norway can use much more of its oil revenues without risking inflation or unemployment, according to economists at the finance corporation Gjensidige Nor. They believe that Minister of Finance Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen is being too cautious, and that he could, instead, lower taxes for all of us. If the Minister of Finance took Gjensidige Nor’s recommendation seriously, and used NOK 30 billion more of the country’s oil revenues, each taxpayer in Norway could save over NOK 11 000 every year.

SWEDISH RAID ON NORWEGIAN BANKS (Aftenposten)

Svenske Företningsbanken has purchased large amounts of primary capital certificates in the four largest Sparebank1 banks. Swedish interests now own primary capital certificates worth half a billion kroner in these banks. This is the equivalent of holdings of ten per cent in each of the four banks. Norwegian legislation does not permit them to own more than this.

WORTH NOTING

• New acting group managing director Arne Wam has proved to be quite efficient in more senses than one during his short career so far at the NSB. During the first few months after he was hired as director of the NSB’s medium-distance train service in February last year, five of the seven members of his top-level management group disappeared. ( Dagsavisen)
• The NSB administered the contact group for handicapped railway travellers so poorly that the organizations for the handicapped demanded that the Norwegian National Rail Administration take over. The NSB, the Rail Administration and the Ministry of Transport and Communications agree that this is a good idea. ( Dagens Næringsliv)
• Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Sylvia Brustad will pressure the municipalities to accept more refugees. One solution could be that a commission will distribute refugees to each county, and then the municipalities will have to agree on how they will distribute the county’s quota. Over 4 000 refugees are currently waiting in reception centres. ( Aftenposten)
• No county municipalities at all, five regions, or ten to 15 county municipalities? None of the proposed models has a political majority to back it up, so the result will probably be only minor adjustments of today’s county borders, according to Professor Jørn Rattsø of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. ( Vårt Land)
• The Labour Party has lost around 1.5 percentage points, according to a poll taken by Norsk Gallup, giving the party a voter base of 29 per cent. ( Verdens Gang)
• According to a poll carried out by MMI for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and Dagbladet, Labour has dropped slightly less than in the Norsk Gallup poll, and is now at 31.9 per cent. ( Dagbladet)
• Oslo is the winner when the Ministry of Justice now distributes 240 new positions on the police force throughout the country. Oslo is being given 80 new positions. ( Aftenposten)

TODAY'S COMMENT from Dagsavisen:

Arne Wam is a brave man. Either brave or foolhardy. He is taking over as group managing director at the NSB when it is in a real crisis. The confidence that has been so completely lost must be built up again. Trains must run on schedule again, while budgets must be adhered to and competitiveness strengthened. Chairman of the board Arent M. Henriksen is giving Mr. Wam from six to 12 months to show results. If he fails to do so, he too will probably be replaced. These are harsh terms. One area where Arne Wam should be particularly qualified to introduce improvements quickly, due to his experience as a journalist, is in the field of information, which is in a terrible state today. There is a total lack of overall coordination, and each individual division, with its own information officer, is responsible for its own information activities. In this area it is also necessary to initiate a form of cooperation with the Norwegian National Rail Administration with regard to providing information to travellers. When the train does not come, it matters little to the customer whether the problem lies with the Rail Administration’s rail network or with the NSB’s equipment.