Danish chairmanship of the Nordic
Council of Ministers 2005
The chairmanship of the Nordic
Council of Ministers, including its subcommittees,
changes each year in accordance
with an agreed plan of rotation.
In 2005 it is Denmark’s turn to
assume chairmanship and the majority
of committees will also have a Danish
chairman. Denmark’s membership of
the Nordic Council and the Nordic
Council of Ministers includes also the
Faeroe Islands and Greenland.
It follows that with Denmark in the
chair it is possible to elect committee
chairmen from these two autonomous
regions. Nordbok has therefore chosen
Martin Næs from the Faeroe Islands as
its chairman for 2005. Martin Næs is
director of the Faeroese National
Library.
The Danish government has prepared a
comprehensive programme entitled
The Nordic Countries in a New Era:
Knowledge, Dynamics and Cooperation.
The introduction to the programme
further defines this title as referring
to the need for Nordic cooperation to
be dynamic and to address the challenges
arising from globalisation.
Globalisation is not so much a question
of the extent of our participation
but rather the manner in which we
participate. In many areas cooperation
on a Nordic basis can make a valuable
contribution to solving the problems of
globalisation as they affect the Nordic
countries. The Danish chairmanship
intends to concentrate on those areas
where Nordic collaboration offers a
distinct ‘Nordic benefit’, such as lifelong
learning, innovation and the
development of closer cooperation
between research and business and
industry. By working together the Nordic
countries can achieve much more
than would be possible acting individually.
In the chapter dealing with culture the
programme places an emphasis on
cultural cooperation as representing a
vital core area in Nordic collaboration.
Particular attention will be paid to two
new policy areas – language and music.
At the same time priority will continue
to be given to the areas concentrated
upon by previous chairmanships of
recent years, namely ‘The Western
Nordic Region’ (Iceland, Greenland
and the Faeroe Islands) and ‘Content in
the New Media’. The Danish chairmanship
is intent on achieving a modernisation
of Nordic cultural cooperation.
A strategic plan will be drawn up for
joint Nordic cultural activities and a
new model will be developed for chairmanship
initiatives, emphasis being
placed on closer contact between the
Council of Ministers as highest political
organ, the Council’s secretariat
and the Nordic special committees and
institutions. These committees and
institutions will be given a direct role
in carrying out the programme.
One way to implement this new model
of collaboration between the Council
of Ministers and the special committees
would be to give the committees
concrete assignments defined at the
political level. As previously mentioned,
language will be a specific
targeted area in 2005. The Danish
chairmanship will work to accentuate
and highlight the Nordic language
community and linguistic understanding.
With reference to this particular
programme point the Council of Ministers
has asked Nordbok and the
Nordic Committee for Children and
Young People to collaborate on a
project aimed at combining activities
and initiatives already under way into
one unified, visible programme. The
two organisations concerned have received
a special grant of DKK 1 mil. to
further this project. A joint working
group has been established consisting
of two members from each body
together with the participation of each
committee’s secretariat. The working
group has until the end of January
2005 to present its proposals as to how
the project can best be carried out.
Translated by Eric Deverill
