Thursday
11th Aug 2022
International donors are playing hide and seek. Instead of stepping up their assistance programmes, richer nations are cutting overseas aid, or reallocating funds from other parts of the world towards the Ukraine crisis.
The Nordic Bridges cultural initiative is now in full swing in Canada — an initiatives of the Nordic ministers for culture, to showcase interaction between their cultures and the rest of the world.
"Not even Putin can concoct some imperial Russian myth that Sweden is within Russia's holy borders," said prominent leftwing intellectual and editor of the Dala-Demokraten newspaper, Göran Greider.
If the international community cannot fulfil its promises in Bosnia — given it's in the very heart of Europe, the leverage the EU and Nato possess, and the massive money invested — prospects for international state-building elsewhere are extremely grim.
Two citizens' initiatives were presented to the parliament in Helsinki this week, one demanding Nato membership and one demanding a referendum on Nato membership. Both gathered the needed 50,000 signatures in a matter of days.
Climate change, economic opportunities and geopolitics make European and German attention to the 'High North' a political necessity, writes the EU's special envoy for Arctic matters.
The United Nations Environment Programme has already warned that Ukraine will be left with a toxic environmental legacy for generations to come.
Nato leaders have agreed a new wave of enlargement and to pile troops onto their Russian flank in response to its rampage in Ukraine.
German infighting and divisions between Nordic EU members and the rest over the Social Climate Fund nearly scuppered a crucial set of climate laws.
Turkey has agreed to let Finland and Sweden join Nato after a deal on Kurdish separatists and arms exports.
Finland, Sweden, and Turkey are edging toward a deal on the Nordic countries joining Nato, Helsinki has indicated.
Sweden has voiced support for Ukraine's "European choice" as diplomacy gathers pace ahead of an EU summit on its first-ever wartime enlargement decision.
The EU flag is nowhere to be seen, when Danish voters head to the polls on Wednesday — in the ninth referendum on the country's relationship to the European Union since 1972.
The Visegrád Group, the New Hanseatic League, the Benelux or the Nordics have frequently worked together — however, southern European member states have frequently found themselves in loose cooperation or, worse, competition.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a threat to all Europe, particularly the Baltic. Sweden and Finland must join Nato to secure peace in the Baltic Sea, write the leaders of the EPP Nordic and Baltic delegations in European Parliament.
Sweden has signalled it will follow Finland in applying to join Nato, as Switzerland also mulls closer ties with the Western alliance.
Finnish public support for joining Nato has risen to record figures since Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Finland's historic move puts pressure on Sweden to also move towards joining the military alliance.
Finnish MPs have got the ball rolling on a week that's expected to culminate in a tectonic shift in Nordic security — Finland and Sweden's decision to apply for Nato membership.
Russian threats will not stop Finland joining Nato, a senior Finnish official has indicated, amid memories of its 'Winter War' with the Soviet Union.
Finland is expected to kick off a debate on the country's potential Nato membership. But Russia has clearly voiced opposition towards any potential enlargement of the western military alliance.
MEPs are taking the EU-lead to hold Denmark to account for stripping Syrians of residency rights. Although aware of the problem, the European Commission has other priorities while the issue has not been raised at the Council, representing member states.
How close are we to battery-powered planes? What effect has Greta Thunberg had on the attitudes of her fellow Swedes? Is small-scale farming the future? These are some of the questions up for discussion in a new podcast series.
Clubs, associations and social networks help to give meaning not just to life, but to the entire democratic system. Be they dinner groups, voluntary fire brigades, citizens' councils, environmental NGOs, neighbourhood committees coaching refugees, and yes, why not, breastfeeding-support groups.
Denmark's former immigration minister Inger Støjberg was on Monday sentenced to 60 days jail for her policy of separating married asylum seekers.
Work ministers reached a common position over EU draft law on minimum wages in Europe, without the support of Denmark and Hungary. The agreement comes after months of negotiations - and strong opposition led by Scandinavian countries.
Nordic countries launched several initiatives at the COP26 climate conference which will have a real impact on the ground. Nordic and UK pension funds are to invest billions in clean energy and climate initiatives. Greenland has joined the Paris Agreement.
Norway currently has 90 oil and gas-producing fields, which could rise to more than 130. One way that harms the shift to a greener economy is because offshore wind and the burgeoning hydrogen industry are competing for the same workers.
The 'Waterloo'-era 1970s was indeed a positive and thriving time in Sweden, during which much progress was made in society. That progress, driven by the Social Democrats, with Olof Palme as prime minister, ensured a high-level welfare state.
Sweden and Finland are no longer embarrassed to cooperate with Nato countries, says the Nordic Council president. With Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg addressing the November meeting, it has gone from being not discussed at all - to the main topic.
The Arctic is warming up to three times as fast as the rest of the planet, putting increasing pressure on Greenland's ice sheet, scientists have warned
Europe's new Arctic strategy called for increased "geopolitical" engagement and a ban on drilling, but without an army, the EU is relying on "sustainable diplomacy" to project influence.
The EU's 2030 Forest Strategy is triggering diplomatic clashes over who should responsible for forest policy, as EU auditors voice concern on biodiversity loss.
Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre will have to form a minority government after the coalition which once ruled Norway for eight years could not agree on oil and gas.
