Theme: Towards a new Helsinki Treaty?
Nordics, Nato and the neighbourhood
The Nordic Council is 70 this year, which was of course celebrated during its annual session in Helsinki. The Council President Erkki Tuomioja pointed out that parliamentarians cooperated for ten years before the ministers got involved. In this edition, we take a closer look at the Nordic cooperation.
Nordic cooperation spans everyday and fateful issues
“The Nordic Council deals with everyday issues of concern to the Nordic citizens,” Erkki Tuomioja told the media just before opening the 74th session in Helsinki on 1 November in his role as the Council President. Yet never before has a session been so dominated by big, existential issues.
27 years since the last changes: Time to revise the Helsinki Treaty?
During its meeting in Helsinki in early November, the Nordic Council decided to call on the Nordic governments to start a “joint discussion with the Nordic Council about how the Nordic countries can better anchor the Nordic cooperation.” Or in other words: revise the Helsinki Treaty.
How unique is the Nordic Council?
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.
The labour ministers consider collective agreements' position in the Nordics
The Nordic governments should introduce a new kind of support where employers who sign up to collective agreements pay lower employer taxes for their employees. That was what Fafo researcher Jon Erik Dølvik proposed when he presented a report about collective agreements in the Nordics during the Nordic labour ministers’ meeting.
Sweden takes on Council of the EU presidency at times of turmoil
On 1 January 2023, Sweden takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the next six months. The presidency means looking after all of the member countries’ interests and leading the work with all the issues in the Council’s in tray – including major decisions on migration, climate and EU expansion.
How to include more people in the Nordic labour markets?
If every Nordic country learned from each other’s successes, 700 000 more people could be in work, according to Danish researchers Sarah Kildahl Nielsen and Vibeke Jakobsen.
Karen Ellemann new NCM Secretary General
Karen Ellemann is the next Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers. She is seen as a heavy-weight candidate taking up a central post for the Nordic cooperation.
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