tema
|
Nordics
Iceland: Paternity leave a boost to men’s identity
Jan 20, 2020 The Nordic Gender Effect at Work is one of the Nordic prime ministers’ most important projects for the advancement of gender equality. It is considered to be an important prerequisite for a good labour market and for economic growth.
tema
|
Nordics
New profile leaves Nordic traces around the world
Jan 20, 2020 The Nordic Region is attractive, with its 27 million citizens over five countries living in peaceful coexistence. We are far from perfect, but perhaps that is what makes us fascinating. The Nordic Council of Ministers tries to look after all this by creating a Nordic brand.
tema
|
Nordics
The Nordics: practical and industrious cooperation
Jan 20, 2020 At an arrival halls café at Reykjavik airport, researchers Kristin Alsos and Jon Erik Dølvik are sat working. They are waiting for the rest of the group arriving from different Nordic countries before sharing a taxi to Hveragerði, an hour from Keflavik.
tema
|
Nordics
"More hard issues should be discussed at the Nordic Council"
Jan 20, 2020 Protect democracy, fight fake news and protect biological diversity. These are issues on the agenda for Iceland’s 2020 Presidency of the Nordic Council. Another focus area is to improve knowledge of Nordic languages.
In focus
Theme: The Nordic Council of Ministers
Jan 16, 2020 The Nordic cooperation between governments is organised through the Nordic Council of Ministers, which next year turns 50. The Council has developed a new vision for 2030 with three clear goals: a green, competitive and socially sustainable Nordic region.
Editorial
The skewed distribution of welfare
Dec 17, 2019 In Finland, there has been a government crisis. In Sweden, the politicians quarrel over the Public Employment Service and in Norway the scandal where thousands were branded benefit cheats, continues. At the same time, the gap between the poor and the rich is slowly but surely increasing - even in the Faroe Islands where growth has been highest.
tema
Malmö: Police officers are also vulnerable
Dec 16, 2019 “When you come home with a black eye after being hit, you are a human being first,” says Malmö’s police chief with ten years frontline experience into the city. Thinking police are trained to deal with the worst possible situations, or even prepared to die, is to put too much belief in a human being’s capability, he says.
News
Tuula Haatainen new Finnish Minister of Employment
Dec 16, 2019 Experienced Haatainen (59) joins a government which features numerous young female minister. So what experience do Finnish politicians have from real working life? The question arose with Finland’s sudden change of government in mid-December.
News
Faroe Islands: big economic growth yet increasing poverty
Dec 16, 2019 The Faroe Islands are doing very well. But things are also going very badly. One survey shows the Faroes had the greatest economic growth in Europe last year. At the same time, the number of Faroese at risk of poverty rose from 9 to 10.7 %. “A worrying trend,” says trade union coordinator Sonja Jógvansdóttir.
News
Maria Mindhammar takes helm at Sweden's battered PES
Dec 12, 2019 On 5 December Maria Mindhammar was appointed the new Director-General of the Swedish Public Employment Service. It is a job she gladly goes to, while also calling the situation at the Public Employment Service “exceptionally challenging”.
Editorial
Fraud in the welfare state
Nov 27, 2019 The word fraud has been used a lot in the welfare debate in the Nordics this autumn. In Norway, the “NAV scandal” has been dominating the news. In Denmark, an employee at the National Board of Social Services is in court charged with embezzling more than 100 million Danish kroner, while unemployment statistics for Sweden have been compromised.
tema
Fundamental misinterpretation led to Norwegian legal scandal
Nov 27, 2019 It has been called Norway’s worst ever miscarriage of justice. Thousands of people were accused of cheating the benefits system when accepting unemployment allowance and other support while living abroad. It then turned out it was never illegal – as long as it happened within the EEA.
tema
Danish welfare agency wide open for fraudster
Nov 27, 2019 Should an employee get a lesser sentence if it is easy to steal from the employer? This issue is currently being debated in the criminal case brought against Danish Britta Nielsen, who stole more than 100 million kroner (over €13m) from her employer, the Danish National Board of Social Services. The money had been allocated to disadvantaged citizens.
tema
Sweden – more generous than what EU law demands
Nov 27, 2019 For many years, Swedish authorities considered it to be people’s right to take their so-called guaranteed pension (garantipension) with them if they moved abroad. Yet, a couple of years ago, the EU Court of Justice made it clear that Sweden was not at all obliged to pay the guaranteed pension to people living in other countries.
tema