Nordic Council

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Flag of the Nordic Council
Working languages	Danish Norwegian Swedish
Seat	Copenhagen
Nordic Council: Foundation President Director (Secretariat)	1952 Dagfinn Høybråten Frida Nokken
Nordic Council of Ministers: Foundation Chairman General Secretary (Secretariat)	1971 Stefan Wallin Halldór Ásgrímsson
Area - Members - With Greenland	1,318,412 km² 3,493,000 km² (7th)¹
Population - Total - Density	24,299,610 18.7/km² (6.9/km²)¹
Currencies	Danish krone Norwegian krone Icelandic króna Swedish krona Faroese króna Euro
Time zone	UTC 0 to +2 (-3)¹
¹ Including Greenland

Political map of the Nordic countries and associated islands.

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 result was the introduction in 1952 of a common labour market, social security, and free movement across borders without passports for the countries' citizens.

On October 31, 2006, Halldór Ásgrímsson was chosen as the new secretary general for the Nordic Council of Ministers. Presently the Norwegian Frida Nokken is the director of the Nordic Council, but she will be replaced by Jan-Erik Enestam.

1 Membership
2 Secretaries-general
3 Organization
4 Alternative projects and plans
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Membership

Members of the Council:

Nations:

Autonomous territories:

Faroe Islands (Denmark)
Greenland (Denmark)
Åland (Finland)

In addition, the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have expressed their wishes to apply for membership in the Council. The Nordic Council opened its information offices in all three countries in 1991. Also there are two Nordic Council offices in Northwestern Russia (in Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad).

The Faroe Islands have expressed their wishes for full membership in the Nordic Council instead of the current associate membership. This would lead to sessions being held in the Faroes, the presidency of the Council routinely being held by the Faroes and the Faroes paying their share of the Council's expenses.^[1]

[edit] Secretaries-general

Norway Emil Vindsetmoe 1971 - 1973
Norway Helge Seip 1973 - 1977
Norway Gudmund Saxrud 1977 - 1982
Finland Ilkka-Christian Björklund 1982 - 1987
Finland Gehard af Schultén 1987 - 1989
Norway Jostein Osnes 1990 - 1994
Sweden Anders Wenström 1994 - 1996
Iceland Berglind Asgeirsdóttir 1996 - 1999
Norway Frida Nokken 1999 -

[edit] 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 Continental-Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) as its official working languages, however it publishes material in Finnish, Icelandic and English, as well [1].

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

Population density in the Nordic region (excluding Svalbard).

[edit] Alternative 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. Ultimately it was the case that Finland did not ratify the treaty due to its relationship with the Soviet Union. Without Finland the idea was defunct, and Norway and Denmark chose to apply for membership to 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 circumpolar affairs.

Administrative subdivisions in the Nordic region in 1996 (excluding Svalbard).

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

The tasks of the Nordic Council overlap significantly with the European Union and related organizations and treaties.