HÅGENSEN CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO BRING CENTRAL BANK IN LINE (Dagsavisen)

Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) president Yngve Hågensen’s message to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was clear: "The Government must set the central bank straight in order to minimize economic disparity in Norway." Mr. Hågensen takes the view that short-sighted political decisions and repeated interest rate hikes by the central bank are prime causes of the frustration behind the voter flight to the Progress Party. He therefore feels the Government should get its own mind straight on the matter of who is responsible for Norway’s finance policy.

HÅGENSEN: PROGRESS PARTY CAN BE OUR DOWNFALL (Aftenposten)

Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) president Yngve Hågensen believes the Progress Party will be the ruin of the labour movement in its present form in Norway. "The fact that nearly 40 per cent of LO members say they will vote Progress is something we must take seriously. We want to hold on to our members regardless of their political standpoints, but we cannot keep quiet about the fact that the Progress Party’s political programme will transform the LO into a different organization with a completely different political agenda. Everything we stand for—solidarity, fairness and equality—will end up on the refuse heap," said Mr. Hagen yesterday in his opening address to the national conference of the Norwegian Union of Commercial and Office Employees.

LABOUR ON THE REBOUND—BUT PROGRESS STILL GROWING FASTER (Nationen)

It pays to battle it out on the air. Labour and the Progress Party have gained 11.4 percentage points between them and are drawing voters away from all the other parties, according to a poll taken for Nationen. Labour is up 4.4 points to 26.5 percent, while Progress has advanced 7.1 points to 31.9 per cent. The Conservatives have lost most, down 3.9 points to 11.0 per cent. The Christian Democrats are down 2.2 points to 14.2 per cent.

TORSVIK POINTED OUT AS SCAPEGOAT—DECLINES TO QUIT (Verdens Gang)

Critics point to party secretary Solveig Torsvik’s leadership of Labour Party headquarters as the cause of Labour’s dismal ratings, and say she should take more responsibility for the problems. "There is no reason why I should resign my office at the national convention. I am quite happy with my job, and I intend to keep it," she says, rejecting her critics’ call for her resignation.

CITIES TO BENEFIT MOST IN NEW ROAD PLAN (Dagsavisen)

In the National Transport Plan scheduled to be presented on Friday, the Government proposes to spend NOK 16.5 billion every year for the next ten years on transport and communications. The plan carries substantial increases in funding for transport projects in the major cities. Oslo alone will receive an extra NOK 5 billion for the new tunnel under Bjørvika and additional railway tracks in and out of Oslo.

KORSVOLD’S UNDISCLOSED OPTIONS (Dagens Næringsliv)

Storebrand CEO Åge Korsvold has received Storebrand stock options at a discount on a number of occasions. These gift packages from unidentified partners may run up to NOK 10 million altogether. Den norske Bank (DnB), in its position as shareholder in Storebrand, takes the view that Mr. Korsvold should make a full disclosure of his private Storebrand involvement. "There should be no room for doubt regarding a chief executive’s independent standing," says DnB group CEO Audun Bø.

RETIRED PERSONS OFTEN STRUCK FROM BALLOT LISTS (Vårt Land)

Retired persons make up 15 per cent of the population, yet only 3.7 per cent of municipal and county council representatives are over 65. Their representation on the party lists is much higher, but they are often struck from the ballots by voters. Ole Ofstad, former head of the secretariat of the National Council for the Elderly, suggests that seeing "Retired" next to a name prompts many voters to cross it off the ballot. "If you are over 65, there is hardly any point in even being listed on the ballot," he says.

WORTH NOTING

• According to a survey taken by the European Council, Norway is one of the European countries in which use of pre-trial detention is lowest. "We are not among the worst when it comes to the extent of pre-trial detention, as many claim," says Director General of Public Prosecutions Tor-Aksel Busch. (Aftenposten)
• Norway has offered NOK 15,000 to each of the 2,500 Kurds granted temporary residency in Norway as an inducement to return home to northern Iraq, but few have accepted the offer. (Dagbladet)
• Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) president Yngve Hågensen says the cost of food in Norway must be brought down to EU levels. Doing so would be a historic reduction in food prices. (Verdens Gang)
• Every one of the approximately 500 under-age asylum-seekers living in refugee centres will be settled under municipal care well before Christmas, says Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Sylvia Brustad. (Aftenposten)
• Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Knut Vollebæk will meet UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for a "job interview" tomorrow afternoon local time. Mr. Annan will soon submit his recommendation for the appointment of a new High Commissioner for Refugees. (Aftenposten)
• The oil companies are now fighting to be first to reduce petrol prices. Statoil and Shell dropped their prices by 10 øre per litre yesterday, and Esso by 11 øre. Statoil will follow up with another 10 øre price cut today, as will Hydro Texaco. (Dagens Næringsliv)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Aftenposten

Assuming that the recommended draft agreement is approved by the relevant bodies in the Norwegian Association of Local Authorities (KS) and the Norwegian Medical Association (NMA), the statutory personal physician scheme will go into effect as planned on 1 June next year. The NMA should be pleased that the final agreement has a better rural profile and offers better salaries to those doctors who prefer a fixed income over payment based on the size of their patient registers. And in the words of the president of the NMA, it will also be "easier to sell the new agreement to recalcitrant members because it provides better opportunities for limiting the number of patients if workloads should become excessive." We have had our objections to the NMA’s conduct, but we concede that they have brought the matter to a satisfactory conclusion. It is gratifying that one of the most important health policy reforms in many years will be implemented on the basis of an agreement everyone can be satisfied with.

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