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Home NATIONALCommon citizenship in Nordic countries proposed
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Sat, 31 Oct, 2015 12:06:43 AM
FTimes – STT Report, Oct 31
 
(L-R) Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila address delegates during a meeting of the Nordic Council in Reykjavik on October 28, 2015. Photo – AFP / Lehtikuva.
A proposal for introducing common citizenship and social identification number among the nationals of Nordic countries has been submitted at the outgoing Nordic Council that ended in Reykjavik with the view to ease relocation of the Nordic people from one country to another.
 
Finnish politician Carl Haglund, the chair of the Centre Group, the second largest of the five party groups in Nordic Council placed the proposal before the Council session on Wednesday.
 
If the proposal is accepted, Finns and other Nordic nationals would be able to immediately relocate themselves to another Nordic country, receive personal identification number and participate in parliamentary elections.
 
Talking to the News Agency STT, Haglund, also the Chair of Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party of Finland) said that the proposal got a good reception.
 
Former Defence Minister Carl Haglund. File Photo – Lehtikuva.
“No one said no,” said the country’s former Defence Minister Haglund to news agency STT.
 
The Finnish government has not yet taken an official position on the matter, but remains open to the proposal. 
 
He, however, said that the proposal also should be examined to verify, whether is there any other obstacle.
 
“It would solve many problems, but everything depends on whether other Nordic countries are willing to come along,” said Transport and Communication Minister Anne Berner.
 
The Nordic Council had earlier explored the possibility of a common identification number, but the Nordic countries were not able to come to an agreement on the systems.
 
According to Berner, a similar reform could apply also to business enterprises and business identity codes.
 
The road for implementation of the Nordic Council proposal is long. First, the proposal will be examined by the Nordic Council Citizens' and Consumer Rights Committee in one or more meetings, and finally, a report on the issue has to be written. 
 
Transport and Communication Minister Anne Berner. File Photo – Lehtikuva.
Then the report will be discussed at a Nordic Council session next autumn.
 
If the Nordic Council supports the proposal, the member states in the Council have 12 weeks to respond.
 
After this, the committee will deal with the response from the member states. If the committee is not satisfied with the answers, it may still negotiate with the responsible ministers. If the answers are deemed good for the committee, the proposal will go the national government for preparation.
 
The reform will continue next year under Finland’s watch since Finland will assume the leadership of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2016.
 
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