About the Nordic Council of Ministers

The Nordic Council of Ministers, formed in 1971, is the forum for Nordic governmental cooperation.

Overall responsibility for the Nordic Council of Ministers lies with the respective Prime Ministers. In practice, responsibility is delegated to the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation (MR-SAM) and to the Nordic Committee for Co-operation (NSK), which coordinates the day-to-day work of the official political Nordic cooperation.

Despite its name the Nordic Council of Ministers consists, in fact, of several individual councils of ministers (MR). Most of the Nordic ministers for specific policy areas meet in a council of ministers a couple of times a year.

The Chairmanship of the Council of Ministers, which is held for a period of one year, rotates between the five Nordic countries. Decisions made in the Council of Ministers are unanimous. See the information about the Presidency and the rotating Chairmanship.

Issues are prepared and followed up by the various Committees of Senior Officials (ÄK or EK) which consist of civil servants from the member countries.

The Nordic Prime Ministers meet regularly - such as before meetings of the European Council, in the circle of European heads of state and government. The ministers for foreign affairs and defense hold their regular meetings outside the formal framework of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Edited September, 2009

News

14/05/2010

Nordic interest in Russia

15 MPs from the Nordic Council are heading for the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions of Russia on 16 May. The politicians will meet their Russian colleagues and learn more about the challenges facing the two Russian regions.

Sinikka Bohlin,
photo - Magnus Fröderberg/norden.org
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16/04/2010

Study visit to Denmark

A group of specialists from 9 municipalities of the Kaliningrad region is leaving for Denmark on 17 April 2010 to visit 6 Danish municipalities and to study experiences of Nordic countries on business development issues, municipal support of entrepreneurs, public-private partnership and companies’ staff upgrading.

photo - Nikolaj Bock, www.norden.org
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26/03/2010

Attitudes are what have to change in order for accessibility to be achieved

There is a great deal of interest among the Russian and Baltic participants on the course in Universal Design that begun on Monday at the Nordic School of Public Health (NHV). The discussions during lectures are lively and questions posed many from participants representing various sectors and agencies.
– The problem is to change attitudes so that those working for public institutions accept that these should be accessible for all, rather than it being an issue of lack of funding, says Andrey Zonin, Director for the Institute for Cultural Programs in St. Petersburg.
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