What is the Nordic Council?

Nordic Council is an organization, formed in 1952 for promoting inter-parliamentary cooperation among the Nordic countries. It has 87 representatives from Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland. The representatives are Members of National Parliament and are nominated by the party groups. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland each have 20 members. Among them, two Danish representatives are from the Faroe Islands and two are from Greenland. Two representatives from Finland are from land. Seven representatives are from Iceland. Finland joined the council in 1955, the Faroe Islands and land joined in 1970 and Greenland in 1984.

What does the Nordic Council Do?

The council bodies consist of the Plenary, Presidiums, and Committee. The Plenary is the highest decision-making body and when the Plenary is not sitting, the Presidium has the equal power to make decisions. The council holds two annual meetings-ordinary sessions and the theme session. In the meetings, the members discuss issues related to the member countries except for national defense. 

The council makes decisions on the issues and asks the respective governments to implement it. The decisions are implemented by the legislature of the respective countries. 

Ordinary sessions are held in every autumn and the President, Vice-President, and members of the Presidium for the next year are elected in the ordinary session. The President is elected from each country in turn. The session is held in the country from where the President is elected. The theme sessions are held in spring in the country of the President of the Nordic Council of Ministers. 

Committees and party groups are formed to run the ongoing political work. A secretariat serves the Nordic Council and each member country has their national secretariat. The Nordic Council Secretariat shares the premises with the Secretariat to the Nordic Council of Ministers in Copenhagen. 

The Secretary-General assisted by the staffs of the secretariat leads the Nordic Council. They are responsible for preparing the business procedure of the council. Secretariat prepares it in discussion and collaboration with the national delegations and party groups. The Secretary-General reports to the Presidium. 

The Secretary-General in consultation with the President sets the agenda for the Presidium meeting and prepares decision items on the agenda. The Presidium may authorize the Secretary-General to take certain decisions. 

The Nordic Council has four committees: 

• The Committee for a Sustainable Nordic Region, 
• the Committee for Growth and Development in the Nordic Region,
  the Committee for Knowledge and Culture in the Nordic Region, and 
• the Committee for Welfare in the Nordic Region. 

The committees prepare business in their own area of expertise and then it is passed by the council. Party groups are formed by the elected members and each group must have four members from at least two different countries. 

Three Continental Scandinavian languages are used as the official working languages of the council, but materials are also published in Finnish, Icelandic and English. The citizens of the Nordic countries are allowed to interact with the official bodies in other Nordic countries in their native language without incurring any translation or interpretation costs. The languages they are permitted to use are Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic. 

While the Nordic Council focuses on inter-parliamentary cooperation, the Nordic Council of Ministers, formed in 1971, works for inter-governmental cooperation. The Prime Ministers of the Nordic countries have the overall responsibility for the cooperation, but most of the responsibilities are delegated to the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation and to the Nordic Committee for Co-operation. The day-to-day works are done by these two bodies.