The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 90/00

Date: 12 May 2000

POLITICAL CENTRE IN DRASTIC DECLINE (Aftenposten)

Ratings for the political centre have taken a nosedive in Opinion’s party barometer. The Christian Democrats are down 3.7 points to 11.8 per cent. The Centre Party is sinking towards the threshold for holding a seat in the Storting, and the Liberals are well under the threshold. Ratings for the other parties are as follows: Socialist Left 8.6% (+0.4), Labour 36.2% (-1.9), Conservatives 15.5% (+1.7), Progress 17.5% (+3.9). The wave of sympathy which bore the Christian Democrats up after moving into the Government in March has dissipated.

UNEMPLOYMENT RISING AGAIN AS AUSTERITY KICKS IN (Klassekampen)

The austerity of the Revised National Budget to be presented today comes at a time when unemployment again is on the rise. 11 per cent of the newest entries to the labour pool are out of work completely. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) feels politicians focus exclusively on labour shortages, but figures presented by Statistics Norway (SSB) yesterday reveal a 30 per cent rise in joblessness in the past year. The number of people without work in the first quarter of the year was 21,000 higher than in the same period last year. According to SSB, 91,000 people in Norway are completely unemployed. Nonetheless, the Stoltenberg Government aims to tighten up the economy with the Revised National Budget it presented today.

AUSTERITY STRAINS LABOUR UNITY (Aftenposten)

A number of the Labour Government’s proposed cuts have provoked sharp protests among Labour’s own MPs. Yielding to internal opposition, the Government withdrew a proposal to reduce the number of quota refugees by 500. Defence must take NOK 500 million in cutbacks, while the Norwegian Industrial and Regional Development Fund stands to lose NOK 200 million.

CENTRISTS ADD TO LABOUR’S OPTIONS TAX CUT (Dagens Næringsliv)

The centrist parties are studying a proposal from the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) which would reduce surtaxes on high incomes and on stock options. The Government had already submitting a similar tax relief proposal right before the recent nationwide walkout, making the LO see red, but there may be a sufficient majority in the Storting to grant even greater tax relief on options.

LABOUR GOVERNMENT IMPATIENT TO SELL STATOIL (Verdens Gang)

Oljeminister Olav Akselsen will soon submit his proposal regarding the partial privatization of Statoil The Government wants the Storting to act promptly on the bill to avoid the threat of a move at the national party convention in November to withdraw the bill. This is the biggest petroleum policy reform since 1985, and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg does not want to risk seeing it struck down by delegates to the national convention.

JOINT NORDIC MILITARY STAFF (Aftenposten)

The Nordic countries are creating a staff to plan joint peacekeeping operations. Located in Stockholm, it will consist of two officers each from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Its task will be to further develop plans for a Nordic brigade, which will be a valuable element in the EU’s new joint security and foreign policy.

MAJORITY FOR HOLOCAUST CENTRE IN QUISLING VILLA (Vårt Land)

There is a clear parliamentary majority in favour of building a Holocaust Centre in Vidkun Quisling’s villa in Bygdøy. Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen and Conservative deputy chairman Inge Lønning both speak out in favour of the centre, and together with the Socialist Left and the three parties of the political centre, Progress and the Conservatives easily form a majority.

SCHOOL START MAY BE CHAOTIC (Dagens Næringsliv)

It appears that the teachers’ unions intend to adopt a completely new strategy in the event of a labour conflict. Few teachers will go on strike before school closes for the summer. Instead, they will postpone their strike until school starts in the autumn, throwing the beginning of school into chaos.

WORTH NOTING

• Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s office will be affected by a strike in the government sector. The Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS) will take 20 employees of the Office of the Prime Minister off the job. Social security offices, the Public Roads Administration and customs are among the other government agencies that will be affected in the event of a strike starting 26 May. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• If state oil activities are split into several entities, the loss of billions in state revenues will be the outcome, according to Statoil. Sigurd Jansen, head of Statoil sales in the US, says that Statoil’s strong position in the petroleum market puts it into a position to push up the price of Norwegian oil. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• A new Swedish-Norwegian railway company will take over all rail traffic in and out of Norway, using new high-speed trains to take market shares from the airlines. An agreement will be signed today, but the first train, which will operating between Oslo and Gothenburg, will not run until 17 June next year. The new railway will link Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen, as well as Gothenburg and Malmö. (Aftenposten)
• Police in Oslo propose to make video recordings of robberies accessible via the Internet in hopes of receiving tips from the public. Training in advanced methods of digital analysis of sound and video recordings has given the robbery investigation unit a new weapon in their efforts to apprehend robbers. (Verdens Gang Nett)
• Minister of Cultural Affairs Ellen Horn decided yesterday to advertise TV2's concession instead of letting TV2 simply renew it. TV2 will now have to compete with others, including the Orkla Group’s TV Invest, which has already indicated its willingness to pay up to NOK 10 million per year for this concession. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Minister of Health Tore Tønne aims to free the county-run hospitals from the financial dominion of county administrations. Hospital administrators will now be given full control over their own finances, but they will also be held responsible. (Verdens Gang)
• Director General of Labour Ted Hanisch reckons that as many as 10,000 employees in supply industries serving the offshore oil and gas industry have quit. A recent survey in Rogaland shows that only around 17 per cent of those who have been laid off have not found new jobs. (Dagsavisen)
• Norway will recruit nurses from Italy to stave off the crisis in the health care sector. A framework agreement between Italy’s and Norway’s labour directorates was signed in Rome yesterday, and 30 Italian nurses will be in place in Norway at the beginning of autumn. (Aftenposten)
• A snowstorm that hit Troms county yesterday added 6 centimetres to the 100 cm of snow still on the ground in Tromsø. (Nationen)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Vårt Land

Politicians have been trying for decades to help rural districts prosper and halt the flight from the countryside. They may have slowed the flight somewhat, but they certainly have not reversed it. Despite extensive developments in public services, despite the development of technology which enables people in many occupations to live literally anywhere, and despite the fact that rural living has never been cheaper, people continue to move to the urban southeast and the greater Oslo area. It is impossible to sidestep the fact that growing numbers of people choose to live in towns because they like it. Our culture is in the grips of an urbanization trend, and there is little we can do about it. Perhaps all we can do is to ensure that when people once again realize the benefits of country life, it will still be possible to move back to the countryside.