ISSN 0804-709X
www.norwaves.com
ATTN: PRESSE- OG KULTURKONTORET
THE ROYAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Press Division, Oslo
NORWAY DAILY NO. 59-62/94 OeW/KJ
DATE: 24 March 1994
PRESSURE TO HOLD SIMULTANEOUS REFERENDUMS MOUNTS (Aftenposten)
Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho said yesterday that Finland might
hold its EU referendum on the same day as Sweden - Sunday 13
November. "The Finnish Prime Minister has brought us one step
closer to coordinating referendum dates in the Nordic countries.
There is no objective reason for Norway to hold its referendum
after Sweden and Finland have held theirs, and it would be totally
unacceptable for Norway to do so," says Socialist Left
parliamentary leader Kjellbjoerg Lunde. Labour Party chairman
Thorbjoern Jagland reiterated that he will not take a stand on a
referendum date until he knows when the EU treaty can be signed.
However, he indicated yesterday that he will stick to his view
that Norway should hold its referendum after Sweden. "I still
feel that people are entitled to know as much as possible before
they vote on something as important as whether or not to join the
EU," said Mr. Jagland yesterday.
SERBIA SCANDAL TO DIRECTOR GENERAL OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
(Aftenposten)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Director General of
Public Prosecutions to investigate whether the Norwegian
authorities broke the law when the Norwegian Agency for
Development Cooperation (NORAD) paid foreign aid funds to a
Serbian-owned company. The Director General will assess whether
there are sufficient grounds to institute an investigation and
ultimately to take legal steps against the responsible NORAD
officials. "This is a grave and very unfortunate affair. The
Director General, and ultimately the Norwegian courts, must
determine whether sanctions have been violated, and if so, what
action is to be taken," says Minister of Development Cooperation
Kari Nordheim-Larsen. The Foreign Ministry will be sending the
matter to the Director General sometime this week. The UN
Sanctions Committee will continue its own investigation of the
matter.
KOSMO COMPROMISE ON DEPOTS (NTB)
Defence Minister Joergen Kosmo is negotiating a compromise with
the US to preserve some of the seven US weapons depots in Norway.
The US would prefer to retain only two depots. "Like Norway, the
US is struggling with its own budget squeeze, but the proposal to
shut down seven of the nine depots is much too drastic. I expect
to clear this up when I conclude the negotiations with US
Secretary of Defense William Perry next Monday," said Mr. Kosmo.
Norway is willing to foot a good deal of the bill to maintain more
depots - perhaps as many as five. "The jobs provided by these
depots are of less importance. Our main concern is the Allied
defence against invasion," says the Defence Minister about the
negotiations.
NORWAY HOSTS CAIRO CONFERENCE (Aftenposten)
Parties involved in the Middle East conflict hope that a major
conference taking place in Cairo today concerning the
establishment of a Palestinian police force will bring the peace
process out of the backwater in which it has landed. Norway will
be hosting the conference, to which a large number of countries
and international organizations have been invited at short notice.
Special adviser Terje Roed Larsen of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Norwegian ambassador to Egypt Per Haugestad were busy
yesterday preparing for the event, in addition to a delegation
from the Foreign Ministry in Oslo that has been sent to provide
assistance during the conference.
ODOUR OF PREDATORS KEEPS MOOSE OFF ROADS (Nationen)
Artificial odour made from the urine of wolves proved to be an
effective means of keeping moose away from railway lines during
the hectic period of Olympic rail traffic in February. "The
incidence of trains striking moose would probably have been much
higher this winter if we had not used this odour substance
together with other measures to reduce collisions with moose,"
says Norwegian State Railway information officer Stig Pettersen.
Extensive trials using the odour of bears, wolves and lynx along
Highway 3 in the Oesterdalan Valley have led to a reduction in the
number of collisions between cars and moose this winter.
WORTH NOTING:
- Russian President Boris Yeltsin will probably visit Norway in
October. It seems that the President would like to be present at
the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Russian liberation
of Finnmark.
- Statoil will become one of the biggest players on the Irish
continental shelf. The Irish government has awarded the Norwegian
oil company over a third of the blocks offered in Ireland's first
round of concessions to attract wide international interest.
- The Government proposes full freedom to lease Norwegian
agricultural property.
TODAY'S COMMENT:
The Government now wishes to do away with the obligation to work
agricultural property. It will be possible to buy a farm, move
onto it to live, and lease out the farmland. The next logical
step, of course, will be to do away with the obligation to reside
on the farm. It would be wise to proceed only one step at a time,
though, so as to cause as little row as possible. On the other
hand, it might be just as well to get it over with all at once.
But let's look at the issue from the other side as well: it will
now be possible to sell farmholdings to persons who are primarily
interested in having a farm to live on. An added effect is that
it will then be easier for farmers now struggling to get by on
insufficient acreages to lease additional farmland. Those who
want to get out of farming will obtain more capital with which to
start a new life, and the remaining farmers will be better off.
(Dagens Naeringsliv)
DATE: 25 March 1994
INFLAMED TV DEBATE (Aftenposten/Arbeiderbladet)
All the well-known arguments were thrown back and forth across the
table in the first EU duel, and a very impassioned one at that,
between the leading figures on both sides - Prime Minister Gro
Harlem Brundtland and Centre Party chairman Anne Enger Lahnstein.
They were assisted by Labour Party chairman Thorbjoern Jagland and
Centre parliamentary leader Johan J. Jakobsen. The principal
disagreement was manifested in their diverging perceptions of the
European Union. While Mr. Jagland and Ms. Brundtland looked out
across national borders, Ms. Lahnstein and Mr. Jakobsen focused
their attention on Norway. The Centre leaders were in fundamental
disagreement with Ms. Brundtland, contending that Norway, as a
member of the EU, would lose its national identity. "It will be
impossible to remain a sovereign nation," was Ms. Lahnstein's
view. The Centre parliamentary leader said he was not so
concerned about the date of the referendum; he expected a
definite No vote regardless. Nonetheless, he was inclined to
favour a coordinated referendum date. Mr. Jagland, on his part,
did not believe holding the Norwegian referendum after the Swedes
held theirs would improve the chances for a Yes vote.
LET SWEDEN GO FIRST (Aftenposten)
Labour leaders are unrelenting in their view that Norway's EU
referendum should be held after Sweden's. Labour Party chairman
Thorbjoern Jagland and Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland argued
emphatically in favour of this at Labour's extraordinary national
executive committee meeting in Oslo yesterday. "We know that many
voters want to know the outcome of the referendums in Sweden and
Finland before taking a stand, and we should heed this wish. We
cannot let the fear of accusations of tactical manoeuvring prevent
us from adhering to democratic principles. I am willing to run
this risk, and I believe I have the support of the party in this
view, even the support of party members who oppose EU membership,"
said Mr. Jagland. "The logic is irrefutable for holding the
Norwegian referendum after the other countries have held theirs.
The political process concerning the EU in Norway was set moving
by Sweden and Finland, and both of these countries applied for
membership before we did. And we must keep in mind that the
Swedes and Finns are not concerned about how Norway votes. It is
we who are concerned about which way they go," the Prime Minister
pointed out.
LETTING THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG (Nationen)
Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland revealed a small part of the
big secret yesterday on how Norway will be able to pay its NOK 7.9
billion EU membership contribution over the Fiscal Budget. "If we
operate with a bigger budget deficit for a number of years than we
would have done outside the EU, everyone would consider this an
investment in the future. If we were to tighten up our economic
policy in the short term to offset the net expenditures entailed
by membership, demand in Norway would go down, and that would not
be good policy. Therefore, we must anticipate that it will take
some time to bring the budget deficit down," concluded the Prime
Minister.
ONLY NORWEGIAN TELECOM WILL BE RESTRUCTURED (NTB)
The Government will submit a proposal after the Easter holiday to
convert Norwegian Telecom into a state-owned corporation. This
will be accompanied by a bill stipulating 100 per cent state
ownership of Norwegian Telecom to make it absolutely clear that
privatization is out of the question. The State Railway and the
Postal Services Administration will not be converted from
administrative agencies to corporations. The Government's
proposal will encounter stiff opposition from most of the trade
unions.
NORWAY TO LEAD EFFORT TO ESTABLISH POLICE FORCE (Aftenposten)
Norway will be heading the effort to create a Palestinian police
force to take over in Jericho, Hebron and the Gaza strip. Efforts
to build up the Palestinian police force will now be intensified.
Norway will chair the coordinating committee, the secretariat of
which will consist of representatives of Russia, the US, the EU,
Japan and Egypt, together with Israel and the PLO. According to
the Foreign Ministry's press spokesman, Norway's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs will preside over the committee, but it has not
yet been determined who will actually be sitting in the chair.
WORTH NOTING:
- The proposal from the Socialist Left to dismantle the monarchy
and create a republic received only 17 votes in the Storting
yesterday, and was voted down.
- A total of 181,610 persons, or 8.5 per cent of the labour force,
are currently outside the ordinary labour market.
- The outcome of the controversy surrounding the appointment of
Torstein Moland as Governor of Norges Bank is still up in the air.
It may end up with a vote of no confidence against the Minister of
Finance, or it could simply boil down to a few critical remarks by
the majority on the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and the
Constitution.
TODAY'S COMMENT:
The European Union will make a renewed attempt this weekend to
straighten out the political snarl in which it has become
entangled. When the EU's 12 Foreign Ministers assemble in the
Council tomorrow, the ministers of the four applicant countries
will be sitting out in the corridor, waiting. This is Norway's
second time around, and for the others, it is their fourth time.
It is disgraceful to leave ministers from four countries standing
around like beggars at a banquet at which they obviously are not
welcome. Its enough to make one wonder whether we really are
welcome in the European Union. (Dagens Naeringsliv)
DATE: 28 March 1994
NORWAY EXPELS IRANIAN CONSUL (Aftenposten/Saturday edition)
Consul Mohammad Movahed of the Iranian Embassy has been given
10 days to leave Norway. Yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs summoned the Iranian Ambassador to notify him that
Movahed is persona non grata because of activities that are
incompatible with his diplomatic status. "The expulsion
has nothing to do with the Nygaard affair. I cannot comment on
the reasons for this reaction," says press spokesman Ingvard
Havnen.
IRAN COUNTERS BY EXPELLING NORWEGIAN CONSUL
(Aftenposten)
Norwegian Ambassador Birger Bye was summoned yesterday to the
Foreign Ministry in Teheran and told that Consul Arne Lundby,
second in command at the Embassy, would have to leave the
country by 4 April. "We explained our reasons for expelling
the Iranian consul, and do not regard the Iranian
response as appropriate," says acting Foreign Ministry press
spokesman Arthur Baste Knutsen. The Foreign Ministry has not
yet decided how to respond to the Iranian move. After the
expulsion, the Iranian Embassy in Oslo will be left with an
accredited staff of five, while Norway, with the departure
of Lundby, will be left with two diplomats in Teheran.
GODAL UNCERTAIN - NO AGREEMENT (Dagbladet)
"We don't have an agreement. There are signs that the EU will
arrive at a solution tomorrow morning, but I'm not certain,"
said Foreign Ministry Bjoern Tore Godal when he returned
yesterday evening from the EU meeting in Greece. "If the
problem is not resolved by Easter, we will be in a difficult
situation. We told Mr. Solana and Mr. Hurd that it would be
rather worrying if the EU can't manage to straighten out its
own problems. A solution that is acceptable to the EU member
states will be acceptable to Norway. The applicant countries
have deliberately chosen not to become involved in
internal disputes in the EU," said Mr. Godal.
FAVOURABLE VIEW OF NORWEGIAN MEMBERSHIP (Arbeiderbladet)
Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kosyrev takes a positive view
of the prospective Norwegian membership of the EU. He believes
that Norwegian membership would have development Rene Steichen, there will be
no extra national
support arrangements for Norwegian farmers south of the 62nd
parallel after the year 2000. Farmers operating in
mountain tracts that are 800 metres above sea level are the
only ones who will benefit from support schemes for northern
agriculture. Minister of Agriculture Gunhild Oeyangen says
that figures such as 800 metres above sea level have never
been mentioned in discussions she has had with the EU, and
that she has no idea how Mr. Steichen arrived at this figure.
"We will have to clear up this matter. We have already agreed
to meet after Easter," says Ms. Oeyangen.
IN VIOLATION OF THE EEA (Arbeiderbladet)
A committee in the Foreign Ministry has assessed current means
of financing the Norwegian Trade Council to determine whether
they are in conflict with the EEA Agreement, which entered
into force on 1 January this year.
According to several independent sources, the committee's
conclusion is that the current practice of financing the Trade
Council by means of export duties is illegal according to the
provisions of the EEA Agreement relating to the
free movement of goods and services. The export duty accounts
for NOK 155 million, or 50 per cent of the Norwegian Trade
Council's income. The Foreign Ministry will not confirm that
the export duties are in contravention of the EEA Agreement.
"We are working to ensure that the financing of the
Norwegian Trade Council is in keeping with EEA provisions. The
Government will deal with the matter immediately after
Easter," says Assistant Secretary General Ketil Boerde of the
Foreign Ministry.
WORTH NOTING:
- Minister of Finance Sigbjoern Johnsen is in favour of a
fusion of the taxation authorities, the petroleum taxation
office, the customs and excise authorities and the tax
collecting authorities into a single gigantic agency.
- The number of people employed by the Defence Establishment
will be reduced by 6,000, i.e. approximately 25 per cent, in
the course of the next ten years.
- On Friday Norway and Kenya agreed, through an exchange of
letters between the Foreign Ministry and the Embassy of Kenya
in Stockholm, to re-establish diplomatic relations.
- Both the Conservatives and the Socialist Left criticized the
Labour Party sharply after the Government decided on Friday to
appoint former Labour Party secretary general, Ivar Leveraas,
as Director of the Directorate of Labour Inspection.
- According to the Directorate for Nature Management, there
are probably only around 20 bears in Norway, not 100 as was
stated in the Report to the Storting on Norwegian wildlife.
TODAY'S COMMENT:
Iran expels Consul Arne Lundby from Teheran. This is a clear
act of revenge in response to Norway's expulsion of the
Iranian consul. The latter was spying on his countrymen.
Lundby hasn't done anything at all. In fact he had
barely settled in in the Iranian capital before he was
declared persona non grata. This diplomatic conflict once more
reveals Iran as a terrorist regime.
Expelling the Iranian consul is a clear expression of Norway's
views on the unacceptability of such operations on its
territory. Nor was the Iranian response unexpected. Thus,
there is no reason why this affair should put a
further strain on relations between Iran and Norway.
(Dagbladet)
DATE: 29 March 1994
EU - CLARIFICATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL AGREEMENT
(Aftenposten)
The fuss caused by statements from EU Commissioner for agriculture
and rural development Rene Steichen has now died down, at least as
far as the Norwegian authorities are concerned. Yesterday evening,
Steichen's press officer issued a short note indicating how the
result of the negotiations is being interpreted. This states that
support schemes for northern agriculture will cover areas north of
the 62nd parallel. Adjacent mountain or hill areas
south of this can also be included in cases where growing
conditions are similar and there is a low population density and a
low proportion of agricultural land and land suitable for growing
food crops. Minister of Agriculture Gunhild Oeyangen interprets
this as a satisfactory explanation.
"All doubts have been swept away", she said.
"THE CRY" TO BE BOUGHT BACK (Dagbladet)
Edvard Munch's painting "The Cry" will probably be back in the
National Gallery very soon. Private investors have been given the
all-clear to buy the painting, which has been valued at NOK 400
million. The purchase price is said to be NOK 5 million. National
Gallery Executive Chairman Jens Kristian Thune confirmed yesterday
evening that private investors have been engaged
in intense negotiations, via intermediaries, with individuals who
have the stolen painting in their possession. According to Thune,
the main thing for the National Gallery is to regain the painting.
How this is done, and who pays for it, is not a crucial issue. We
do not have the money to pay those who have the painting. Thune
has been in contact with both the management of the
National Gallery and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and informed
them of the situation. He has not received any indication that
this solution is not acceptable.
NORWAY WILL BE ABLE TO RETAIN FOUR OF NINE DEPOTS OF
PRE-POSITIONED EQUIPMENT (NTB)
After a meeting with his American colleague William Perry on
Monday, Minister of Defence Joergen Kosmo stated that Norway will
be able to keep four of the nine American depots of pre-positioned
military equipment. The Minister said that he was very pleased
with this result. The Norwegian Government has agreed to provide
NOK 4 million per year to prevent the Americans from closing down
seven of the nine depots. The two ministers also agreed that the
USA will send forces to Macedonia to replace the Norwegian UN
soldiers serving there. In return, Norway will increase its
presence in Bosnia. Mr. Kosmo stated that US marine troops will
continue to carry out manoeuvres in Norway, and that the
commitment to assist Norway in the event of a crisis or the
outbreak of war still stands.
THE DEFENCE ESTABLISHMENT MUST EXPLAIN ITS PRE-
CHRISTMAS SPENDING (NTB)
Headquarters Defence Command Norway has been asked to explain its
routines for the purchase of matriel to the Ministry of Defence
by 22 April. The Defence Establishment uses relatively little
money during the first eleven months of the year, but goes on a
spending spree in December each year, when 35 per cent of the
procurement budget is used up. State Secretary Sigve
Brekke in the Ministry of Defence says that a new budgeting system
was introduced in the Defence Establishment a couple of years ago.
This was intended to ensure that military commanders are notified
in January of their budget for the year. This should make it
unnecessary to indulge in hectic pre-Christmas spending, which may
result in poor quality purchases and thus
economic losses. However, analyses made by the Office of the
Auditor General of purchases by the Defence Establishment show
that the new system has not yet begun to have the desired effect.
THE PLANE THAT CAME BACK INTO THE COLD (Aftenposten)
A U-2 plane has once again landed in Bodoe, this time in a blaze
of publicity, as a gift from the USA to Norway. These planes used
Bodoe as their base for flights over Eastern Europe at the end of
the 1950s. About 20 of them were produced in the USA. The
returning plane arrived in Bodoe yesterday afternoon. It will be
one of the main attractions at the Norwegian Aviation
Centre, which is to open on 15 May.
WORTH NOTING:
- Doctors from EEA countries who wish to practice in Norway no
longer need to speak Norwegian. According to the EEA Agreement, no
language qualifications may be required of doctors from EEA
countries.
- In the course of three years, sick leave in companies taking
part in the project on sick leave run by the Confederation of
Norwegian Business and Industry and the Norwegian Federation of
Trade Unions has dropped by 15.5 per cent.
- The Government is considering whether to prohibit taking and
publishing public opinion polls on election days before the
polling stations close.
TODAY'S COMMENT:
In April and May, the Government and the Storting will have an
opportunity to consider the fusion of various Norwegian taxation
and customs agencies. It is not at all certain that the final
result of the "ROSA" project will be the one Minister of Finance
Sigbjoern Johnsen is likely to recommend. Too many people wanting
to ride their own hobby-horses and too much conservatism
within the public administration make the outcome very uncertain.
If the Government manages to make the system easier to understand,
this will be an advantage for its "customers". If it also manages
to create a service in which the left hand knows more about what
the right hand is doing and where each branch is aware of the
final results of its own and others' actions, much will
have been achieved. It will be a formidable task to cut through
the red tape and create a coherent tax administration from today's
haphazard, fragmented system. (Dagens Naeringsliv)