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Union proposal sparks Nordic debate

"Tear down Nordic borders," the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter writes. Several Swedish newspapers have spoken out in favour of closer Nordic co-operation in the wake of historian Gunnar Wetterberg's proposal for a new Nordic Union.

Oct 28, 2009
De nordiska flaggorna

Swedish leader writers have little faith in a new Kalmar Union but support closer Nordic co-operation.

Photographer
Johannes Jansson/norden.org

"Something has been happening to Nordic co-operation. The prime ministers are spending more and more time together and consider the meetings important," Dagens Nyheter writes. The biggest circulation newspaper in the Nordic Region reports large numbers of "enthusiastically positive" reactions from readers to Wetterberg's proposal for a new Nordic Union that would strengthen the Region's voice at international level.

Wetterberg's opinion piece in DN, which was rejected immediately by the Nordic prime ministers, was covered by media all over the Region on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, Maud Olofsson, would however welcome a debate about the form co-operation will take in the future, and the editors of several Swedish newspapers took up the challenge on Wednesday. The editorial writer in Västerbotten-Kurir believes that the preconditions for Nordic union have never been better, and that there is "almost no" argument against union.

"Co-operation on the Nordic Council ought to have resulted in an economic union back in the 1970s. Obstacles to cross-border freedom of movement cause great indignation as well as financial loss for a lot of people in the Region, the paper says. It also points out that the international situation now makes co-operation on a foreign and defence policy possible in line with the proposals laid out in the Stoltenberg report.

Kalmar Union 2.0 an enticing prospect

Norrköpings Tidningar finds the idea of "Kalmar Union 2.0" enticing and says it is far too simplistic simply to dismiss Wetterberg by accusing him of nostalgia. Debates in the European Union, the United Nations and on the climate prove such a thing as a "Nordic vision" does exist, the paper said.

A new union is not needed. A more dynamic partnership is.

Several newspapers support closer Nordic co-operation within the EU and on the uniform implementation of EU legislation in the different countries. Norrtelje Tidning considers the Nordic Council an important arena for politicians to meet and learn from each other, while Helsingborg Dagblad thinks that popular support for Nordic integration would be enhanced by closer collaboration on education and culture.

"A new union is not needed. A more dynamic partnership is," one paper wrote in its editorial.

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