Regions — Nordic Labour Journal

Creating synergies for life science cooperation in the Öresund Region

(Feb 27, 2023) Is a bridge enough to expand the common labour market in the Öresund region, or is more needed? The answer from Medicon Valley Alliances’ CEO is: We must also become better at identifying and using the factors that benefit both Denmark and Sweden and explore the potential of this.

How unique is the Nordic Council?

(Nov 29, 2022) How unique is the Nordic cooperation, with its Nordic Council and Nordic Council of Ministers? The nearest European parallels are the Benelux Union and the Benelux Parliament. At least in one area they have taken cooperation even further. But while people in the Nordics call themselves nordbor, no one calls themselves Beneluxianian.

Green aims in uncertain times

(May 26, 2022) One of the most important goals for the Nordic labour market cooperation is to make sure the right knowledge and skills are available to meet the demands of the green transition. But new and surprising challenges must also be dealt with.

Green industry makes Swedish Luleå try to grow three times faster

(May 26, 2022) There is a race on in Northern Sweden. Enormous investments in new technology give the largest of the Nordic countries the chance to compete with others to be the first to kickstart the green transition. It is a challenge for businesses and for civil society.

Trailblazing development of green steel in Swedish Boden

(May 26, 2022) Mass production of fossil-free steel is to be the arrowhead of the green transition in Northern Sweden. The initiative aims to mitigate climate change and meet the world’s needs for sustainability. With it come many new jobs and a need for new housing.

Image of macho Northern Swedish man must go to secure recruitment

(May 26, 2022) A gun on his back, snus tobacco under his lip and a misogynistic worldview, he drives around on his scooter. This image of the primitive Norrlänning – a person from Sweden’s northernmost county – became ingrained with the 1996 movie The Hunters. Now Northern Sweden is hunting for people to carry out the so-called green revolution, and that image has to go.

Hopes dashed on the Finnish-Russian border

(May 26, 2022) “Parikkala is a municipality people usually drive right past,” says Mayor Vesa Huuskonen, with only a hint of humour. Parikkala is an agricultural municipality with an ageing population in South-Western Finland, right on the border with Russia. Plans for an international border crossing have been scrapped because of the changed international situation.

Parikkala goes for maids, whitefish and an unusual sculpture park

(May 26, 2022) There is an old saying that "the maids from Parikkala and the whitefish from Simpeljärvi are better than anywhere else". The maid is now a sculpture in the city centre while the whitefish is swimming in the lake. But a sculpture park with 255 concrete statues doing yoga is by far the biggest draw.

The train to Russia stopped running. Lappeenranta limps on.

(Apr 25, 2022) The borderless Nordic region turned out to be an illusion during the pandemic. It hit the Øresund region, border trade between Sweden and Norway and the citizens of Haparanda and Tornio. But Finland has an eastern border where traffic has ceased because of the pandemic. Today the war in Ukraine has made the situation even worse for Villmanstrand – or Lappeenranta in Finnish – the city with the closest links with Russia.

The Faroe Islands: A country without prisons

(Jan 28, 2022) If you are sentenced to more than 18 months in prison in the Faroe Islands, you will suffer the additional penalty of being sent to Denmark to serve your sentence. Because there are no prisons in the Faroe Islands.

Islands with their own point of view

(Dec 10, 2021) The Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland see the Nordic cooperation as a stepping stone to the outside world. But they also bring plurality to the Nordic table by enhancing awareness of different governance arrangements, peoples and their rights.

Fredrik Karlström works hard to make Åland more diversified

(Dec 10, 2021) Fredrik Karlström has become a veteran of Nordic labour market cooperation. The Minister for Industry and Trade in Åland’s government pops up in pictures everywhere in the Nordic Labour Journal archives. The first was taken in 2012, where he poses with Nordic colleagues on the quayside in Longyearbyen in Svalbard.

Will Greenland get the mining adventure off the ground?

(Dec 08, 2021) Greenland is about to introduce a range of reforms aimed at creating a well-functioning labour market and a stable framework for foreign investments in industries like mining.

Hybrid work: Nordic border commuters face income tax headache

(Dec 07, 2021) Hybrid work became a solution for many companies during the Corona pandemic. But people commuting across borders risked being taxed in a different country because they were working from home. The Nordic Border Barriers Council is on the case.

Nordic cooperation – a must-have or nice-to-have?

(Jun 29, 2021) The pandemic has led to increased polarization between the Nordic countries and trust between Nordic citizens has fallen. This is particularly true for those living far apart. In border regions, where people know each other, it has been less damaged.

100 years of autonomy: Åland celebrates

(Jun 29, 2021) Åland is marking 100 years of autonomy from Finland with year-long celebrations. Not everyone wanted the autonomy solution at first, but it has turned out to be a winning ticket allowing Ålanders to create a prosperous island society. Yet Åland with its shipping and tourism industries has been hard hit by the pandemic.

Greenland chooses new government in protest against controversial mining

(Apr 29, 2021) Greenland’s natural resource fairytale must not come at the expense of Greenlanders’ health, welfare and job opportunities. That was the clear signal from voters as they went to the polls to on 6 April 2021 and got a new coalition government.

Finland and Sweden: one year, two cities, one closed border

(Mar 24, 2021) In Sweden, the talk was about Finland “closing the border to Sweden”. In Finland, it was called “necessary domestic border controls”. It has been more than a year since the Corona pandemic changed everyday life in the most integrated region of the Nordics – the twin cities of Tornio and Haparanda.

Elves, dogs and reindeer suffer as tourists disappear from Arctic Circle

(Dec 10, 2020) There seems to be more visitors to the post office than anywhere else in Rovaniemi’s Santa Claus Village – despite the risk of infection. Auli Sihvo has worked there for 20 years and seen how Santa has improved Lapland's commercial pulling-power.

War destitution created Lapland's tourism boom. It began here.

(Dec 10, 2020) The tourism industry in Finnish Lapland has a lot to thank Eleanor Roosevelt for. The presidential widow’s visit to Rovaniemi and the Arctic Circle set in motion an international Lapland industry. This year is the 70th anniversary of her visit.