Negotiators attempt to keep world at bay (Dagsavisen)

By Monday it will have become clear if a new centre-right coalition government is going to get off the ground. Prime ministerial candidate Kjell Magne Bondevik and Liberal leader Lars Sponheim are due to have meetings with Conservative Party chairman Jan Petersen throughout the weekend. Yesterday Mr Bondevik attempted to shroud the forthcoming talks in a cloak of secrecy. All the parties are extremely keen to prevent the media from finding out when and where the talks will be held.

Labour lays traps in next year’s budget (Aftenposten)

In his proposal for next year’s national budget Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has laid out a number of snares to trap an incoming centre-right government. The aim is to demonstrate to the electorate the differences which exist between the various sides in Norwegian politics. The current Labour government will propose expenditure increases in a number of areas, and will do all it can to put a centre-right government to the test. Politically, the Christian Democrats, led by Kjell Magne Bondevik, are to be bled as white as possible for implementing the Conservatives’ tax promises. There could therefore be a lot of good old "Christian Democrat policies" in Labour’s budget proposal.

Money talks (Vårt Land)

It is not so much the Conservatives themselves as the money which is standing in the way of Kjell Magne Bondevik and Lars Sponheim reaching an agreement with Jan Petersen on the resumption of negotiations to form a new coalition government during the talks to be held today and over the weekend. Even with the best will in the world, the negotiators will have a difficult time balancing the books. Apart from a couple of rounds on the issue of patenting genes, there is not much left which separates the negotiations, or discussions as Mr Bondevik prefers to describe them, from a good, old-fashioned, bare-knuckle fight over the budget– other than that this tussle is about the budgets for the next four years.

Immigration will prevent interest rate rise (Dagbladet)

The three negotiating partners have so far agreed on tax cuts in the order of NOK 31 billion over four years. A good deal of this figure will be paid for out of the return on investment from the Petroleum Fund. The Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Liberals believe that opening the door to a larger number of job-seeking immigrants could take some of the pressure off the economy, so that more of the Petroleum Fund’s revenues can be spent. The Progress Party will naturally reject any increase in immigration and will oppose legislation introduced to make it happen. According to Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen, such a proposal does not make any sense from an economic point of view.

Conservatives are country’s largest party (Nationen)

Election winner Jan Petersen may have been decked by a political left-hook from Kjell Magne Bondevik, but the Conservatives are once again the country’s largest party. In the latest poll carried out by Sentio-Norsk Statistikk on behalf of Nationen during the period 18-24 September, the Conservatives scored 22.8 per cent against the Labour Party’s 22.2 per cent. According to the poll the Socialist Left Party is still moving ahead, and now has the support of 14.3 per cent of the voters. This is 1.8 percentage points more than they polled on election day. The Centre Party dropped 1.6 percentage points, while the Liberals gained 1.3 points.

Labour pushes ahead with Snow White development (Dagbladet)

Before it is forced to resign the Labour government will attempt to push through approval for the large-scale development of the Snow White gas deposit in the Barents Sea. The Petroleum and Energy Ministry has been working quietly to prepare the case, and is now thought to be ready to give the go-ahead very soon. The environmental lobby claims that the usual procedural rules for oil and gas questions have been set aside in the Ministry’s high-speed deliberations on the massive development project in this sensitive marine environment.

Røkke’s proposal too vague (Aftenposten)

Kværner’s chairman, Harald Arnkværn, has hit back at Kjell Inge Røkke’s criticism of the proposed solution to the company’s crisis. He claims Mr Røkke’s own suggestions were too vague for Kværner to come to any conclusion on. "We have set forth a concrete solution. Vague outlines are not something you can make a decision about, at least not when the outlines do not contain a single figure," said Mr Arnkværn.

Worth Noting

• Behind closed doors, the Conservative Party’s deputy chairman, Inge Lønning, gave the party’s executive committee a thorough dressing down. Mr Lønning’s outburst followed the Conservatives’ decision to go back to the Christian Democrats and the Liberals to ask for further talks. (Dagsavisen)
• The Conservatives are about to scare off their closest allies within the Christian Democratic Party. The Christian Democrats’ suspicion of the Conservatives is greater now than when the parties started their exploratory talks. (Vårt Land)
• There is unconcealed dissatisfaction in parts of the Conservative Party over the situation round the negotiating table. Jan Petersen emerged from yesterday with his authority clearly weakened. But any leadership battle will be kept for a later date. "If there is one thing we are not going to have right now, it is a new round of fractional in-fighting. We are now focusing on building the framework for a lasting centre-right coalition which will point the way forward. Talk of anything else just now is plain stupid," said a centrally placed source. (Aftenposten)
• Police in Oslo have stepped up their crackdown on the possession of illegal weapons by criminal elements. Anyone carrying an illegal firearm in a public place will no longer get away with just a fine. They will now be held on remand and face a sentence of several months’ imprisonment. (Dagsavisen)
• Kjell Inge Røkke bought most of his shares in Kværner from Bergesen last summer. The shipping line avoided the collapse in Kværner’s share price and saved itself several billion kroner. (Dagbladet)
• Jarl Veggan, head of corporate communications at Den norske Bank (DnB), has put a stop to all speculation that DnB will admit defeat today and accept Sampo’s bid for Storebrand. The market expects Sampo’s chief executive, Björn Wahlroos, to withdraw his offer. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Today it is three weeks since the last time Kværner announced it had won a major contract. Nevertheless, the company claims that it has not lost any contracts during the last few weeks of crisis. (Aftenposten)
• Norway is afraid of flying. After the terrorist attacks on the USA the cancellations have come pouring in to the travel industry. Destinations in Egypt have been particularly hard hit. When the charter flight to Egypt took off yesterday, every fourth seat was empty. (Dagbladet)

Today’s comment from Dagsavisen

Kjell Inge Røkke wishes he had not become Kværner’s largest shareholder. He will only join in a rescue package if he gets full control of the company. Anyone who has lost NOK 2.5 billion on his investment in Kværner has the right to be angry with the company’s management and board of directors. But when Mr Røkke threatens to pull the plug on a vitally important share issue, his reaction appears dangerously close to a childish temper-tantrum. That is simply no way for an investor to behave.