Nordic Council

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Nordic.gif
Flag of the Nordic Council
Working languages Danish
Norwegian
Swedish
Seat Copenhagen
Nordic Council:

Foundation
President
Director (Secretariat)


1952
Ole Stavad
Frida Nokken

Nordic Council of Ministers:

Foundation
Chairman
General Secretary (Secretariat)


1971
Heidi Grande Røys
Per Unckel

Area
 - Members
 - With Greenland 		Ranked 19th
1,318,412 km²
3,493,000 km² (7th)¹
Population
 - Total
 - Density 		Ranked 45th
24,299,610
18.7/km² (6.9/km²)¹
Currencies Danish krone
Norwegian krone
Icelandic króna
Swedish krona
Euro
Time zone UTC 0 to +2 (-3)¹
¹ Including Greenland

The Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers is a cooperation forum for the Parliaments and governments of the Nordic countries. It was established following World War II and its first concrete results was the introduction in 1952 of a common labour market, social security, and free movement across borders without passports for the countries' citizens.

Contents

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Membership

Image:Nordic countries.GIF Members of the Council include:

Nations:

Autonomous territories:

In addition, Estonia, has expressed its wishes to apply for membership in the Council. Estonia already has Nordic Council offices and information points in five of its cities.

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Organization

The Nordic Council and the Council of Ministers have offices in Copenhagen and various installations in each separate country, as well as many offices in neighbouring countries. The council does not have any formal power on its own, but each government has to implement any decisions through its country's legislative assembly (parliament). With Denmark, Norway, and Iceland being members of NATO and Finland and Sweden being neutral, the Nordic Council has not been involved in any military cooperation.

The Nordic Council uses the three Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) as its official working languages, however its publishes material in Finnish, Icelandic and English, as well [1].

The original Nordic Council concentrates on inter-parliamentary co-operation. The Nordic Council of Ministers, founded in 1971, is responsible for inter-governmental co-operation.

Image:Norden pop density.gif

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Alternate projects and plans

In the 1960s there were plans to develop the Nordic cooperation into an organisation similar to the European Economic Community. A treaty was negotiated to establish a new organisation, NordEk headquartered in Malmö. Though ultimately it was the case that Finland did not dare to ratify the treaty due to its special relationship to the Soviet Union. Without Finland the idea was defunct, and Norway and Denmark chose to apply for membership in the EEC. Denmark became a member of the EEC in 1973, but Norway rejected accession in the same year in a referendum. Sweden did not apply due to its non alliance policy, which was aimed at preserving neutrality. Greenland subsequently left the EEC and has since sought a more active role in the Circumpolar affairs. Image:Subdivisions of Norden.gif

Sweden and Finland joined the European Union in 1995. Norway has still not joined, twice rejecting an offer of membership through a national referendum. Icelandic and Faroese public opinions are both solidly against EU membership.

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See also

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External links


Image:Nordic countries in black.gif Nordic Council Image:Nordic.gif
Denmark | Finland | Iceland | Norway | Sweden
Associate members:
Åland | Faroe Islands | Greenland

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