ISSN 0804-709X
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THE ROYAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Oslo
Press Division
NORWAY DAILY No. 6-10/95 OeW/KJ
DATE: 9 January 1995
SETTLEMENT IN REKSTEN CASE (NTB-Friday)
A settlement has been reached between Hambros Bank and the
Norwegian state in connection with the Reksten affair, and the
government will now terminate its hunt for concealed Reksten
assets outside Norway. The settlement, formally entered into
between Hambros Bank and the Norwegian Guarantee Institute for
Ships and Drilling Vessels AS (GI), gives the state NOK 300
million. This comes in addition to the NOK 100 million paid by
Hambros in the first settlement in 1982. Hilmar Reksten's
estate in bankruptcy has also paid out NOK 226 million in two
installments. The government has recovered NOK 626 million
altogether from the shipping bankruptcies - approximately half
of the original claim. "This settlement shows that the
authorities were right in not letting matters rest after the
1982 settlement," says Minister of Trade and Shipping Grete
Knudsen. She feels the government did the right thing in
accepting the settlement just concluded. "This settlement is
excellent! It's the biggest we have achieved throughout the
entire Reksten affair, and probably the biggest ever in
Norway," says government lawyer Erling C. Hjort. This marks
the close of a 20-year hunt for assets.
FEWER POST OFFICES GOOD POLITICS (Aftenposten-Saturday edition)
"Neither the Postal Administration, Telenor nor NSB were
created for the purpose of providing jobs. They were created
to provide cheap and efficient services. We are streamlining
operations chiefly for the sake of the rural districts," says
Minister of Transport and Communications Kjell Opseth. He
takes the view that closing post offices could be good rural
policy. "The Centre Party is resisting rationalization efforts
that are in the best interests of the rural districts, and
which they moreover helped pass through the Storting. If we do
not rationalize, higher prices and poorer service will be the
result, and the Postal Administration could find itself having
to deal with problems like those the Norwegian State Railway
is facing. The Centre Party's solution would leave us with an
inefficient enterprise serving those parts of the country that
no one else is interested in serving," says Mr. Opseth.
DAMAGING NORWAY'S REPUTATION (Arbeiderbladet-Saturday edition)
Norway's ambassador to Argentina, Peter Raeder, has made it
clear that Monica Kristensen is damaging Norway's reputation
by not paying her bills from her latest Antarctic expedition.
"We are involved in a dialogue with her, although we cannot
yet say we are approaching a solution," says acting press
spokesman Kaare Eltervaag of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Eltervaag emphasizes that the Foreign Ministry's first
concern is to get Ms. Kristensen to pay the approximately NOK
914,000 she owes the US government for the rescue operation on
26 December 1992. "We do not feel we are under any obligation,
either morally or ethically, to help collect Ms. Kristensen's
other debts, although we would like to see these taken care
of, too. This whole affair has been regrettable," says Mr.
Eltervaag.
LABOUR GAINS IN RECENT SURVEY (Arbeiderbladet-Saturday edition)
The momentum of the substantial advances made by the Labour
Party right after the referendum has not let up. In Nielsen
Norge's latest poll carried out for the Labour press during
the last two weeks of December, support for the Labour Party
rose to 43.6 per cent. This is nearly eight percentage points
over the November poll, and the highest Labour figure since
1977. The Christian Democrats chalked up 9.0 per cent. Only
once in the past ten years have they scored this high - in May
1991. The Conservatives and the Centre are the big losers in
this poll, each losing around three percentage points: the
Conservatives are down to 15.2 per cent and the Centre down to
14.0 per cent.
WORTH NOTING:
- Iran has reportedly recalled its ambassador to Norway for
having pronounced that the fathwa did not apply in Norway. The
ambassador left Norway in October and has not returned.
- More or less grave deficiencies and errors were noted in all
of the pension funds audited by the Banking, Insurance and
Securities Commission last year. Fifteen public and private
pension funds had been audited.
- The leaders of "No to the EU" disagree on what to do with
the organization now. At issue is the degree of preparedness
to be maintained in the event that advocates of EU membership
revive their efforts.
- The European Movement in Norway has not given up. "Norway
will join the Union before the year 2000," says Inge Loenning.
- Three Wideroee aircraft were struck by lighting on Sunday
evening, forcing Wideroee on Monday to cancel 18 flights on
six routes.
TODAY'S COMMENT:
The Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of the
Environment have jointly cleared away a dense undergrowth of
principles and bureaucracies which have prevented the
Gov=>v6ent from presenting a long-delayed plan for protecting
coniferous forests. The problem was that the Directorate for
State Forests and Land, which is charged by the Storting with
operating according to accepted business principles, demands
compensation for state forestland set aside for protection.
The amount claimed is surprisingly high - in the billions of
kroner. A compromise between the two Ministers reduced the
amount substantially, but did not address the underlying
problem: Why should the state pay compensation to the state
for state forestland set aside by the state for protection?
This is never an issue when a road or a power transmission
line is to be built over state property. Coniferous forests
set aside for permanent protection represent a national asset
that pays for itself in the long run. (Dagbladet)
DATE: 10 January 1995
GOVERNMENT COMMISSION WANTS TO PLACE DEMANDS ON DEVELOPMENT
AID (Aftenposten)
The Development Assistance Commission would like Norway to
place greater demands on countries receiving Norwegian
development aid. The commission is approaching completion of a
study on Norwegian North-South policy measures ordered by the
Government in its efforts to ensure that the billions of
kroner spent on development assistance every year are properly
applied. Among the proposals contained in the report is the
suggestion that Norway should make deals with recipient
countries on aspects of economic policy and other factors that
affect development assistance. Haavard Alstadheim, chairman of
the commission, takes the view that Norway should keep away
from development projects that are obviously ill-considered.
He is also critical of the programmes for improving the
economic policies of third-world countries backed by the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
NORWAY IN SPECIAL POSITION (Arbeiderbladet)
It is essential to secure US recognition of Norway's special
security and defense policy position within NATO. It is also
important for Norway to utilize its associated membership in
the Western European Union to the full. Defense Minister
Joergen Kosmo made these points in a speech last night in
which he discussed Norway's situation in the aftermath of the
referendum on EU membership. "The effort to ensure that the US
still maintains its interest and security involvement in
Norway and Europe is one of Norway's major challenges now that
we have declined to join the EU," said Mr. Kosmo.
RENEWED EU MEMBERSHIP ISSUE COULD RESURRECT ANTI-MEMBERSHIP
ORGANIZATION (NTB)
It may be necessary to consider whether "No to the EU" should
be reactivated in 1996 if Norwegian membership of the EU again
appears on the political agenda, in the view of the
organization's head, Kristen Nygaard. He believes the
membership issue could resurface if the 1997 general elections
bring a majority of Union advocates into a Storting that could
be called upon to take a decision on EU membership. This would
make it necessary for "No to the EU" to revert from the stand-
by which will probably be adopted at the organization's
national convention in March, and return to active duty.
GODAL URGES KOZYREV TO STOP WAR (Aftenposten-Monday evening
edition)
Minister of Foreign Affairs Bjoern Tore Godal has sent a
letter to Russian Foreign Minister Andre Kozyrev asking him to
put a stop to the conflict in Chechnya. In his letter, Mr.
Godal observed that fundamental human rights are being
violated, and he urged that every effort be made to bring the
fighting to a halt. The Norwegian Government was criticized
last week for its indifferent attitude towards Russian
aggression against Chechnya.
EL AL REFUSED WEAPONS PERMIT (Aftenposten)
Regular flights between Oslo and Tel Aviv to be operated by
Israeli airline El Al are scheduled to commence in February.
El Al has requested permission for their own security officers
to carry weapons in Norwegian territory, but the Romerike
Police Department has refused. "We have told the Israelis that
they will not be granted any exemptions from Norwegian weapons
regulations," says Police Inspector Asbjoern Gran. The
Romerike Police Department's decision is being reviewed by the
Ministry of Justice.
WORTH NOTING:
- A director at the UN organization for aid to Palestine was
dismissed on Friday in connection with irregularities
involving Norwegian development assistance funds.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is using a sharper tone on
foreign diplomats who commit parking violations in Oslo.
According to preliminary figures, 658 violations qualifying
for fines or extra charges were registered on cars with
diplomat registrations in 1994. The Foreign Ministry will now
compile a list of the worst offenders.
- Labour's new welfare policy: higher payments to single heads
of households and higher taxes for affluent pensioners.
- Court decisions in the cases against the first four persons
charged in the Airbus affair will be handed down on Monday.
The prosecutor called for jail sentences for all four.
- Officials at the Ullersmo Prison make extensive use of
information from informants among the prisoners. Anonymous
tips from inmates helped forestall an impending prison riot
yesterday.
- The wealthiest in our society should not receive child
benefits. This is an absolutely inappropriate use of
taxpayers' money, according to Prof. Jan Grund.
- The upbringing of children is too important to be left to
parents alone, in the view of the well-known child
psychologist Magne Raundalen. He would like an official
definition of what is most important in child-rearing.
TODAY'S COMMENT:
The conflict in Chechnya raises a number of weighty issues for
the international community, and the reactions of Western
countries have varied. Norway, like several other countries,
has denounced violations of human rights committed in
connection with the Russian military operation. The EU has
gone further and frozen its trade and partnership agreements
with Russia. The US has restricted itself to criticism through
diplomatic channels, and Norwegian reactions have been closer
to the US than to the EU. We think the Norwegian Government
should review the agreements and arrangements now existing
between Norway and Russia and consider some form of reaction
more like that of the EU. The extent of the violations
justifies harder reactions then those that have so far been
forthcoming from Norway. (Arbeiderbladet)
DATE: 11 January 1995
No news received on file.
DATE: 12 January 1995
JOHNSEN DEMANDED APOLOGY (Arbeiderbladet)
Finance Minister Sigbjoern Johnsen's temperature rose several
degrees when Kristin Halvorsen (Soc. Left) accused the Prime
Minister, the Finance Minister and top officials for having
conflicts of interests in the outcome of the Moland affair. In
Ms. Halvorsen's view, the common practice of "just making a
phone call" is not to be taken lightly. "What does the Finance
Minister intend to do about an administrative culture in which
contacts run every which way?" was one of her questions. The
Finance Minister categorically denied having taken any action
at any time in the Tax Directorate's work on the Airbus/Moland
case, even though, as Minister of Finance, it was within his
proper sphere of activity. "This is a gross insinuation by Ms.
Halvorsen, and I expect an apology. I have never even
considered interfering in the Airbus/Moland case, neither in
respect of the timetable nor the assessment," said Mr.
Johnsen. "I have nothing to apologize for," said Ms. Halvorsen
afterwards. "The PM and the Finance Minister put themselves
into this situation of their own accord when they appointed
Mr. Moland Governor of Norges Bank, knowing that he was under
investigation by the tax authorities."
NORDIC UN COLLABORATION MAY BE THREATENED (Aftenposten)
"How will the close Nordic collaboration in the UN be affected
by the fact that three of these countries are now members of
the EU and two are not?" Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland
asked this question yesterday at the "Nordic Countries in the
UN - for Peace and Development" conference in Helsinki. This
conference marks the beginning of the Nordic observance of the
UN's 50th anniversary. "We cannot disregard the possibility
that Nordic collaboration within the UN may be different in
the future from what it has been in the past. We must find
ways to ensure that the Nordic countries in the EU have the
time and resources to keep up the collaboration that has been
so beneficial," she said.
HIJACKERS TO BE EXTRADITED TO RUSSIA (Aftenposten)
The three Iranian hijackers who forced an Aeroflot jet to fly
to Norway on 15 September 1993 will be sent to Russia before 2
February. In a letter from the Russian embassy in Oslo to the
Norwegian Ministry of Justice, Russia accepts all the
Norwegian demands - the hijackers will not receive death
sentences nor will they be extradited to Iran. Russia has also
conceded to the demand that Norwegian representatives will be
permitted to verify the conditions under which the Iranians
are kept in custody before and during their trial, and
afterwards if they are found guilty. Their applications for
political asylum in Norway have been turned down.
LEGISLATION AGAINST BULLYING (Dagbladet)
Labour Party chairman Thorbjoern Jagland proposes enacting
legislation that would make bullying in school illegal. He is
now taking up the struggle against the growing violence and
dissolution of values that is taking place in society, and has
offered six specific proposals intended to reverse these
developments. "We are up against a growing cynicism. We must
question whether our society has failed to provide the values
and norms necessary to counteract this culture of violence,"
says Mr. Jagland.
WORTH NOTING:
- "If Norway and the UK reduce their production, the price of
oil could possibly climb to over 20 dollars a barrel," in the
view of Qatar's Minister of Oil, Ahmed Saeed al-Badi. He did
not succeed in bringing Minister of Industry and Energy Jens
Stoltenberg round to his views during a meeting between the
two yesterday.
- 1994 was the year in which worn wheels halted trains,
engineers took sick leave, passengers raged, the Norwegian
State Railway (NSB) overran its budget and the executive board
had to go. In spite of all this, the NSB also broke all
passenger traffic records in 1994.
- The wreck of the Russian cruiser "Murmansk" could be left
for a long time, battered by the waves on the Finnmark coast
in the municipality of Soeroeya. "It may still be lying there
when 1996 comes around," says Minister of the Environment
Thorbjoern Berntsen. He estimates the total cost of removing
the wreck at NOK 60 to 100 million kroner.
- Minister of Children and Family Affairs Grete Berget would
like to see occupations in which women predominate valued more
fairly. The Government has appointed an expert committee to
identify ways in which to achieve greater parity in standards
of assessing men's and women's occupations.
- A newly-developed "waterbag" filled with 10,800 tons of
water from the Norwegian mountains was towed down the
Sognefjord and out into the North Sea, where it will undergo
testing in seas running up to 10 metres high. Oslo Energi is
planning to export NOK 500 million worth of water annually.
- Sprinter Aham Okeke tested positive for doping on 5
December. He was also caught doping last summer.
TODAY'S COMMENT:
Two representatives submitted questions on the Airbus affair
during yesterday's Question Time in the Storting, giving
Finance Minister Sigbjoern Johnsen another opportunity to
clarify whatever contact had - or by his own account had
hardly - taken place between the Ministry and the Directorate
of Taxes in connection with the case last autumn. The Finance
Minister's replies could hardly have provided sufficient
clarity to satisfy most Storting representatives, however. Mr.
Johnsen pointed out that there was continual, daily contact
between the Ministry and the Tax Directorate on tax matters to
discuss general interpretations as well as individual appeals.
It may therefore have been difficult to perceive the necessity
of taking exceptional care in handling Mr. Moland's case.
Nonetheless, the impression is growing that the Finance
Minister's control over his ministry is not what he made it
out to be last spring when he narrowly avoided a vote of no
confidence. (Dagens Naeringsliv)
DATE: 13 January 1995
COASTAL TOW REPORTING PROCEDURE CALLED FOR (NTB)
Defence Minister Joergen Kosmo would like Norway to reach an
agreement with Russia on reporting procedures for Russian
vessels towing other vessels along Norway's coasts in order to
prevent pollution in Norwegian inshore waters. "My concern is
that we must receive notification of any large or heavy
vessels in tow in order to be prepared for any emergency,"
says the Minister of Defence. A reporting procedure would be
in the interests of both Norway and Russia. He alludes to the
growth in military and civilian activity that has been taking
place on the Kola Peninsula since these ports have increased
in importance to Russia. "All this activity represents a major
challenge to our efforts to prevent pollution. For our part,
it means that Norway must raise the standard of surveillance
along its coast. We must do more to safeguard our interests
along our coast," says Mr. Kosmo. He will raise the question
on his visit to Russia in March.
NEW WELFARE PROGRAMMES (Aftenposten)
Welfare schemes that do not work as intended may be revised,
according to Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. "We must
examine whether the programmes created in the past are
fulfilling their aims just as well today in contributing to an
equitable distribution of social and economical resources.
Programmes that do not stand up to closer inspection should be
revised," said the PM at the opening of the Labour Party's
22nd National Women's Conference yesterday. "On the basis of
what we are presently aware of, we have no further proposals
other than freezing child benefit rates, " says the PM.
MOLAND WILL STEP DOWN IF GROSS NEGLIGENCE IS FOUND
(Arbeiderbladet)
If the Oslo Tax Assessment Board comes to the conclusion that
central bank governor Torstein Moland displayed gross
negligence in his involvement in the Airbus limited
partnership, key Labour people believe that Mr. Moland will
step down voluntarily. However, if the outcome is nothing more
than a modest additional tax charge, the Labour Party may
choose to stand behind its central bank governor, whatever may
come. It is commonly held that Mr. Moland's tax case is
unlikely to end up in the gross negligence category. It is
reported that Mr. Moland, for his part, will not let pressure
from the news media force him out of office.
NEW ROUND IN ANDRAWES CASE (Aftenposten)
A high court decision is necessary to determine whether there
are sufficient grounds to suspect Souhaila Sami Andrawes of
complicity in murder. This was the explicit message of the
Appeals Committee of the Supreme Court when it remanded her
case back to the high court yesterday. This decision carries
no direct indication as to whether Ms. Andrawes should remain
in Norway or whether the German extradition request should be
turned down. If the high court finds that there is not
sufficient cause to suspect Ms. Andrawes for complicity in
murder, the Ministry of Justice will have to make extradition
contingent upon her not being prosecuted for this charge in
Germany. The Supreme Court expressed no opinion on the issue
of her complicity in murder.
CIVIL DEFENCE MAY GO ABROAD (NTB)
The Norwegian Civil Defence may perform services outside
Norway in the event of major accidents or disasters,
particularly in areas close to Norway. Nuclear accidents in
Russia are one type of situation in which conscripted civil
defence personnel could be called out. The rest of
Scandinavia, the Baltic and western Russia are the primary
areas where the Norwegian Civil Defence could be called to
assist.
WORTH NOTING:
- "Norway cannot be half in and half out of the EU. Norway is
not a member, and this carries certain consequences for
Norway," said French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe prior to
today's visit in Oslo.
- The pending extradition of the three hijackers to Russia is
already on the agenda of the Commission on Human Rights in
Strasbourg, and will probably be dealt with today.
- Jan Reinaas, the new chairman of the Norwegian State
Railway's executive board, cautions against massive investment
in high-speed trains. "We must acknowledge the fact that
people prefer flying to taking the train when long distances
are involved," he says.
- Thousands of hypochondriacs in Norway feel ridiculed and
neglected, but a serious effort is now being made for this
group. Norway's first outpatient clinic for hypochondriacs has
now been opened in Bergen, to be followed in the spring by a
clinic in Oslo.
TODAY'S COMMENT:
The causes of bullying and other violent behaviour are
numerous and complex. The breakdown of values in society,
parental failures in raising their children, and violence on
film, video and television are all involved. When the
politicians feel helpless in the face of difficult problems,
they often want to meet the challenges with new legislation.
Labour Party chairman Thorbjoern Jagland has proposed doing
what was recently done in Sweden - passing laws against
bullying in school. However, government action to give the
schools more social resources and beef up substance abuse
programs, as Mr. Jagland is now calling for, are measures
educators, social workers, municipalities and counties have
been begging for for years. Mr. Jagland should go have a word
instead with the Labour ministers responsible for day care
institutions, schools, health care and law enforcement without
delay. (Dagbladet)