Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
The government is told to respect wind farm judgement, a crackdown on tax loopholes, and banks profit from increased interest rates. These are the headlines from Norway on Friday.
Judges' Association asks the government to respect Supreme Court ruling on Fosen
The Judges' Association has warned the government that trust in the legal system and the rule of law will be weakened if the government doesn't respect the judgement that made the wind farm at Fosen illegal.
The wind farm was deemed illegal in autumn 2021 after the court found that it interfered with the human rights of Sami reindeer herders.
Despite the ruling, the government has yet to do anything about the wind farms.
"This is particularly important when the courts find human rights violations, and the temporary phase drags on. In other words, the situation as it has been for the past two years is not sustainable from a rule of law perspective," said the head of the Judges' Association, Kirsten Bleskestad.
Finance Minister announces tax crackdown
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum hopes a global minimum tax will avoid billions being lost to tax havens.
The tax will be adopted by the king on Friday, newspaper E24 announces. The proposal will need to be sent to parliament for a final decision, though.
"This will lead to large companies that have operations in various countries, including in tax havens, having to be taxed if they come to a low-tax country. The global minimum load must be 15 percent," Vedum said.
Banks profit from high interest rates
Norwegian banks have earned significantly more in 2023 than they had after the first three quarters of last year, new figures from the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority show.
The reason for the increased income is higher interest rates charged to customers. Banks make increased revenues from this as they normal raise interest rate charged before they increase the interest paid to customers saving with them.
This differential leads to increased revenues for banks but has led to them getting into hot water.
Vy and the government dispute Flytoget's claims
A row over whether state-owned Vy would take over the airport express service from another state-owned enterprise, Flytoget, has seen the government and Vy refute claims that the switch would lose 1.4 billion over four years.
Flytoget published a report that outlined significant losses should the government give express service to Vy. Flytoget said more people would use their cars to get to the airport.
Vy argued the opposite in its reaction to the report.
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Judges' Association asks the government to respect Supreme Court ruling on Fosen
The Judges' Association has warned the government that trust in the legal system and the rule of law will be weakened if the government doesn't respect the judgement that made the wind farm at Fosen illegal.
The wind farm was deemed illegal in autumn 2021 after the court found that it interfered with the human rights of Sami reindeer herders.
Despite the ruling, the government has yet to do anything about the wind farms.
"This is particularly important when the courts find human rights violations, and the temporary phase drags on. In other words, the situation as it has been for the past two years is not sustainable from a rule of law perspective," said the head of the Judges' Association, Kirsten Bleskestad.
Finance Minister announces tax crackdown
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum hopes a global minimum tax will avoid billions being lost to tax havens.
The tax will be adopted by the king on Friday, newspaper E24 announces. The proposal will need to be sent to parliament for a final decision, though.
"This will lead to large companies that have operations in various countries, including in tax havens, having to be taxed if they come to a low-tax country. The global minimum load must be 15 percent," Vedum said.
Banks profit from high interest rates
Norwegian banks have earned significantly more in 2023 than they had after the first three quarters of last year, new figures from the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority show.
The reason for the increased income is higher interest rates charged to customers. Banks make increased revenues from this as they normal raise interest rate charged before they increase the interest paid to customers saving with them.
This differential leads to increased revenues for banks but has led to them getting into hot water.
Vy and the government dispute Flytoget's claims
A row over whether state-owned Vy would take over the airport express service from another state-owned enterprise, Flytoget, has seen the government and Vy refute claims that the switch would lose 1.4 billion over four years.
Flytoget published a report that outlined significant losses should the government give express service to Vy. Flytoget said more people would use their cars to get to the airport.
Vy argued the opposite in its reaction to the report.
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