Stoltenberg carps at voters (Aftenposten)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has been complaining about the voters. "Too many of them want to have their cake and eat it," he commented after yesterday’s poll showed a substantial lead for the Conservatives. He believes it is impossible for the Conservatives to keep all their campaign promises. A number of Labour MPs will lose their seats in the Storting if the latest poll is reflected in the final election result. Among them is Grethe Fossum, who believes the party’s national executive committee which meets on Monday and Tuesday must change their tactics. The Conservatives on the other hand are sticking to their main campaign issues: taxes and schools, taxes and schools. This message is being hammered home to voters at every occasion. Former Progress Party MP, Jan Erik Fåne, now a communications consultant, is a key adviser.

Labour could lose 22 seats (Dagsavisen)

If voters continue to turn their backs on the Labour Party, it risks losing a total of 22 seats in the Storting. Among those in danger of being swept aside is Dag Terje Andersen, leader of the Storting’s Finance Committee. According to a recent opinion poll, support for the Labour Party has fallen to a record low of 23 per cent. An election performance that poor would send the party back to the stone age and wipe out the political centre. Only a beaten and bruised Christian Democratic Party would be left. The alarm bells have started to ring for the centre parties, but can they hear them? wonders Dagsavisen’s leader writer.

Swing to the right drowns the centre (Vårt Land)

Three months before the election the swing to the right is gaining momentum and is threatening to sweep aside the Stoltenberg government and drown the centre alliance as a viable alternative. With the support of 28 per cent of the electorate, according to the VG/Norsk Gallup poll published yesterday, the Conservatives have definitely emerged from the dark shadow the party has been living in for the past four years. At the same time the tax question is emerging as a key political issue, which bodes well for a continued swing to the right. Election experts explain the Labour Party’s poor showing as the result of voters’ discontent with the ruling party. For the Stoltenberg government the pre-election bell has begun to toll.

Jens lacks political antennae (Dagbladet)

In contrast to Britain’s Tony Blair, Jens Stoltenberg lacks authority as prime minister. Where New Labour adapts to meet voters’ concerns, the Norwegian Labour Party runs aground because it lacks the political antennae to pick up the groundswell of public opinion. According to Per Edgar Kokkvold, expert on UK affairs and general secretary of the Norwegian Press Association, this is the most important difference between Tony Blair and Jens Stoltenberg in their role as prime minister. Mr Kokkvold does not think Mr Stoltenberg has lived up to expectations. His personal qualities have not done the job. When Jens Stoltenberg took over from Thorbjørn Jagland as the Labour Party’s prime ministerial candidate, it was hoped that charismatic Jens would do for the Labour Party what Tony Blair has done for Labour.

No unrest in Labour Party says Stoltenberg (NTB)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg says he will not allow himself to be thrown off course by recent opinion polls. He has seen no evidence of unrest or discord within the Labour Party. "As long as I believe in the issues, I will continue to fight for them. Then it is up to the voters to decide," he said in a comment on the latest in a series of disastrous opinion polls. Mr Stoltenberg said he was proud of what his government had achieved, but that he is obviously unhappy with the party’s showing in the polls.

Spanner in the works for Minister’s plans (Dagens Næringsliv)

Trade and Industry Minister Grete Knudsen has suffered a brutal political defeat at the hands of fellow Labour Party MPs. Ms Knudsen’s ambitious plans to create an investment fund consisting in equal measure of state and private funds, which would report directly to her own department, have been scuppered by former Labour minister Kjell Opseth and Labour MP Rita Tveiten. These two have succeeded in sweeping the state’s share of the NOK 5 billion fund into two other state investment organizations, the Industrial Development Corporation of Norway (SIVA) and the Norwegian Industrial and Development Fund (SND).

Worth Noting

• Telenor’s election committee has twice unanimously proposed Bjørn Rune Gjelsten as the company’s new chairman. Trade and Industry Minister Grete Knudsen has twice supported Mr Gjelsten’s candidature, but was defeated on both occasions by her cabinet colleagues. The question informed sources are now asking is whether Ms Knudsen will try to make it third time lucky. (Verdens Gang)
• The Government will today ask the Storting to approve plans to equip the police with four uniformed helicopters at an annual cost of NOK 12 million. The helicopters will be leased from one of several commercial companies, but will be furnished with police equipment and will be painted in police colours. (Aftenposten)
• The proposal to block the construction of eight planned wind farms has provoked a storm of political protest. Even environment campaigners, Bellona, supported the now blacklisted projects. (Aftenposten)
• The Centre Party’s Ola D. Gløtvold has called for a halt to government plans to sell Norwegian Medicinal Depot, the state-owned pharmaceuticals wholesaler, to the German pharmaceuticals company, GEHE. "We believe it is quite wrong to sell off nearly all the state’s shares. It will lead to fewer retail pharmacies and more expensive medicines in rural areas," he said. (Nationen)
• Norwegian holiday company Star Tour is doing well. The most successful internet-based shopping sites in Norway and abroad have been created by travel agents, booksellers and IT companies. Though many Norwegian companies have set up e-commerce activities, the majority have yet to experience any great success. (Aftenposten)
• Yesterday the Government decided that foreign seasonal workers can help with the haymaking on Norwegian farms. Foreign seasonal workers are currently only allowed to pick berries, moss and vegetables. (NTB)

Today’s comment from Dagsavisen

The Government wants to reduce its stake in Telenor at record speed. Statoil’s shares are to be floated in a week’s time. When voters went to the polls four years ago this kind of widespread privatization was barely to be seen on the political agenda. Supporters of privatization on the political right were ridiculed by the centre parties and the Labour Party for wanting to "sell off the family silver". Now Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is himself the driving force behind the largest sell-off of state assets in Norwegian history. It is therefore difficult to feel any surprise over the suggestion by the Conservatives’ Per-Kristian Foss that Statkraft should be the next privatization candidate. However, that does not mean the Labour Party should allow itself to be led into supporting such a move. Today Statkraft is an important tool to secure public control of one of the country’s most important resources, hydro-electric power. Selling Statkraft would also mean selling the waterfalls which laid the foundations for much of the country’s wealth. Continued public control of that wealth is beneficial from a socio-economic point of view and of vital national interest.