Taani suursaadik Eestis hr Uffe A. Balslev konverentsil "Innustatuna kohalikust maitsest", mis toimus mullu oktoobris. Foto: Väino Silm/norden.eeAmbassador Uffe A. Balslev describes the events in the Baltic countries 20 years ago when the Nordic Council of Ministers' offices were started in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Today (January 20 - ed.) exactly twenty years ago I sat in the evening in the restaurant of the Palace Hotel in Tallinn somewhat anxious about what the coming week would bring. As a young Danish diplomat posted to the Soviet Union, I had just flown in from Moscow with the late afternoon plane with what seemed an impossible task.

That year my masters in the Danish government held the rotating Presidency of the NCM, the Nordic Council of Ministers that embraces the governments of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Sweden. The task was to assist a colleague from the NCM Secretariat in Copenhagen, Mr. Jørgen Tranberg, with finding and renting premises for opening an Information Office of the NCM .... in all three Baltic capitals and within only five working days!

EkobankenLars Pehrson from the Danish bank Merkur Andelskasse marked to Icelanders, who have lost their savings and often living as well in the recent economic crisis, in a seminar on socially responsible banking held during the summit meeting of the Nordic countries that modern banking can still be likened to Formula 1 racing in street traffic.

This year the bank, along with other two, was awarded a nature and environment prize of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Merkur Andelskasse shares the prize with Cultura Bank from Norway and Ekobanken from Sweden.

Those three represent a new trend in banking. They merge traditional market economy with value-based banking. As usual, the goal of the banks is to move cash flow and earn a profit, but they only lend money to companies and projects that share their values. It is their task to find agencies and people who are most effective in producing such values. And the venture must be successful at that.  

Flags of the five Nordic countries. Photo: Johannes Jansson/norden.orgYear 2030: the five Nordic countries – Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland – have merged into a united political federation with 25 million inhabitants and a common constitution, rule and head of state. Jakob Sjövall, MA in political science from the University of Stockholm, discusses the prospects for the emergence of a new, strong political force on the European as well as the international stage.

The idea of the Nordic countries forming one unified state has once again come to the forefront. Last year the renowned Swedish historian Gunnar Wetterberg came dynamically out with the idea of the Nordic Federal State, supported by arguments based on facts, which caused much sensation in the Nordic region as well as all over Europe. In the course of one year his proposal has put some flesh on its bones, has been widely debated and has been published as a book.

Wetterberg argues enthusiastically for a federation which, in addition to a common head of state – according to the latter the Queen of Denmark – would have common foreign, defence and fiscal policy frameworks and exercise legislative cooperation in various fields of social policy, starting from the hot topic of immigration.

Nordic Statistical Yearbook 2010. Photo: Johannes Jansson/norden.org25% of Swedish citizens between ages 16 and 24 were unemployed in 2009. Denmark and Norway do somewhat better in this respect, their unemployment rate among young people being around 10%. The Nordic Statistical Yearbook 2010 includes the above and other interesting statistical data on the Nordic countries.

Also from the Yearbook 2010:

• In Iceland 37% of students quit school right after compulsory school. The percentage of students with just basic education is higher only in Aland, namely 38%.
• In Sweden the most popular name for newborn girls is Alice. In Finland the most popular name is Aino, in Denmark Freja, in Iceland Sara and in Norway Emma.
• Sweden is the Nordic country where women have the most abortions. In Sweden 348 abortions per 1000 newborns were performed in 2008. However, in Greenland, which is an autonomous country of Denmark, the number of abortions is higher than that of live births.

Karen Ellemann. Photo: Johannes Jansson/norden.org As a result of this week's major government reshuffle in Denmark, the post of Minister for Nordic Co-operation has been reallocated. Experienced minister Bertel Haarder has been replaced by Karen Ellemann, who is also in charge of Danish environmental policy.

"I'm happy to be taking on this role, and I am especially keen to find common solutions to the big challenges presented by globalisation for the Nordic countries," says Ellemann. The daughter of the famous Nordic veteran politician Uffe Ellemann-Jenseni, Ellemann was first voted into Parliament in 2007. A educated teacher, Ellemann has been heavily involved in the Danish Liberal Party's integration and family policies.