Nordic Council
The
Nordic Council and the
Nordic Council of Ministers is a cooperation forum for the 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 labor market, social security, and free movement across borders without passports for the countries' citizens.
The Nordic Council has offices in
Copenhagen and various installations in each separate country. 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,
Sweden being neutral, and
Finland having had cooperation treaties with then
Soviet Union, the Nordic Council has not been involved in any military cooperation.
The Nordic Council uses
Swedish,
Danish and
Norwegian as its working languages.
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.
Sweden and Finland joined the
European Union in
1995.
See also: Scandinavian defense union
External links
\n*Nordic Council - Official Site \n*
Nordic FAQ
Category:Denmark\nCategory:Finland\nCategory:Iceland\nCategory:Norway\nCategory:Sweden
Category:Greenland\nCategory:Faroe Islands\nCategory:Åland
Category:Nordic countries\nCategory:International organizations
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