Sunday
19th Jan 2020
As president of one of the largest trade union confederations in the EU, I see the need for good working conditions and decent pay in all member states - but an EU-wide minimum wage could be used to lower wages.
Nordic cooperation will give young people a powerful platform on stages in Madrid and Stockholm during the UN Climate Conference COP25 next month.
Eager to engage with climate-engaged youth, eight Nordic prime ministers met with nine young political leaders in Stockholm for the first time this week. But did the youngsters take the bite?
It will take hundreds, maybe thousands of years before the climate goes back to normal. Meanwhile we must work to stabilise it at the new level and adapt, Sweden's leading climate researcher says.
Without much ado the Nordic Council cooperation has formed the backbone of politics in the entire region for more than 60 years. It meets in Stockholm this week, to discuss sustainable Arctic tourism, and ending summertime, among other topics.
The Nordic Council's prestigious annual awards ceremony this year turned into a youth revolt, with climate activist Greta Thunberg declining the environment prize and another winner criticising the Danish prime minister for racism.
A lone Polish NGO has objected to Denmark's permit for Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but neither that nor US mini-sanctions are likely to stop the juggernaut.
Iceland remains the most gender-equal country in the world, followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden. But one Nordic country sticks out from its neighbours with few female lawmakers, senior officials and managers.
Donald Trump wanted to buy Greenland, while the Faroe Islands have come under pressure to ditch China's Huawei for its 5G network. Both incidents reflect growing geopolitical interest for the North Atlantic countries sharing foreign and security policy with Denmark.
Two Danish ministers - for environment, and for food and fisheries - call on the EU to reconsider the unintended consequences of zoning rules and income support in the Common Agricultural Policy.
The Arctic future conference kicked off with optimistic presentations by ministers and officials of the Russian government — but also a burst of scepticism from representatives of those actually living in Russia's Arctic and Far East regions.
Despite the neighbourhood's beautiful name, the reputation of Rosengård (Rose Garden) does not so much evoke images of roses as headlines of crime and social challenges. This area of Malmö has been struggling with its notorious, mythical, image for years.
"If evil is not defeated, it tends to expand", Natalia Magnitskaya, the widow of a Russian anti-corruption activist, has said, as EU diplomats discuss human rights sanctions 10 years after his death.
Despite Finland's EU presidency's repeated assurances it was in favour of promoting measures to end deforestation, the Finnish government has now announced that forestry policy should remain a national decision-making process.
Brussels will play host to more than 400 Nordic artists and creative practitioners this autumn, organised by one of Europe's most influential cultural institutions, BOZAR.
A controversial counterterrorism bill could end up criminalising aid workers in the Netherlands if they enter conflict hotspots when assisting the world's most vulnerable people.
An inaugural EU-Arctic forum is heralding a new impetus in EU efforts in the Arctic. This coincides with increased focus on the Arctic from China, Russia and the US.
The EU ought to consider banning Brazilian beef unless it takes action on forest fires, the Finnish EU presidency has said. A wider free trade deal is also at risk.
Donald Trump is to meet Greenland leader Kim Kielsen while in Denmark next month, amid global attention prompted by Trump's offer to buy the vast island.
Denmark is preparing an urgent national ban on food treated with the pesticide chlorpyrifos after an EU health warning, but European law could block the initiative.
Parliamentary arithmetic at Westminster, and societal pressures from the likes of Welsh sheep-farmers, Northern Irish cattle breeders, London business groups and Scottish Conservatives combine to push a motion of no-confidence in the prime minister by mid-October at the very latest.
Appalled over Coca-Cola sponsoring the recent Romanian EU presidency, MEPs have asked Finland, the new holders of the rotating post, to put an end to such practices. But Helsinki, whose presidency is sponsored by BMW, has no such plan.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has delivered a blow to Denmark's strict family-reunification laws. The ruling will likely cause headaches for its new left-leaning government given its stance on immigration, and opens up 8,000 pending cases.
Taking over the EU's presidency in July, Finland wants to get the remaining EU member states to agree on the 2050 climate neutrality target by the end of the year.
Gazprom's argument - that the application of the directive is discriminatory and retroactive - looks more like a desperate grasping at legal straws.
Strong appeals from Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and former EU commissioner Connie Hedegaard to take climate to heart when voting in Sunday's European elections.
In Finland, only 10 percent of 18-24-year-olds voted at the previous EU elections in 2014. General satisfaction with the status quo of the EU membership could explain why youngsters do not feel like they need to vote.
To maximise the global impact of climate policy, Norwegian economists recommend a shift of focus - from national emissions reductions, to clean technology development and better use of international emissions-trading systems, notably EU market mechanisms.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo refused to compromise, so Arctic ministerial meeting ends with no formal agreement on climate change.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo meets Russia's Sergey Lavrov and other Arctic foreign ministers, amidst a row over climate change. Pompeo is also likely to warn against Chinese advances in the Arctic.
In a world full of conflict, often sparked by climate change, and arms races, Nordic countries look into pooling resources and offering better peace mediation.
"We have made our choice: we choose democracy and rule of law," write the leaders of the National Coalition Party in Finland and the Moderate Party in Sweden.
Finland's centrist prime minister Juha Sipila's surprise resignation kicks off a busy political spring in the Nordic country, with national and EU elections as well as preparing to head the EU' rotating six-month presidency from 1 July.
