The People’s Democratic Festival in Bornholm 2021
At the 2021 festival, Bertel Haarder, President of the Nordic Council, will host a debate on the Arctic, and Annette Lind, Vice-President of the Nordic Council, will open a discussion on Nordic crisis preparedness. We will also be looking at sustainable solutions and learn more about what Nordic Innovation's new Playbook can do in this regard.
We will be in the company of many talented panellists, not all of whom always agree. The Social Democratic Youth of Denmark and their Nordic sister organisations have for example issued a clear call for even more Nordic co-operation.
It has been hard for young people during the corona crisis. We aim to do something about this, which is why we have invited UNICEF and youth organisations to a discussion on young people and loneliness – and what we in the Nordic Region can do together to help them.
Two of our debates at the Democracy Festival 2021 will be live-streamed at folkemoedet.dk, and can subsequently be viewed here at norden.org:
Video: The way out of the crisis is green and Nordic
Video: Vulnerable and lonely young people in the time of Covid
Our debates at the Democracy Festival 2021
What will it take to emerge from the crisis and move forward in a sustainable and Nordic way? We will be putting this question to politicians and business executives. We will debate what Denmark can do together with the rest of the Nordic countries, and whether enough is being done. We will also be introduced to a concrete tool: the Nordic Circular Economy Playbook, which is intended to help companies test themselves in relation to going ‘all in’ on sustainable production.
How have children and young people managed during the Covid-19 pandemic? Has loneliness become more prevalent, for example? And how is life for particularly vulnerable children in these times? Across the world, Covid-19 has led to extensive measures and restrictions being put in place to prevent the spread of infection. We in Denmark and in the Nordic countries have also had to make alterations in our daily lives. Children and young people have perhaps been particularly affected by the restrictions, but have they been heard? This is a question that we need to discuss. It may not be the last time that the authorities are required to take serious decisions on restrictions – and what will we do then? We will be putting these questions to the panel and the audience.
Bertel Haarder, President of the Nordic Council, invites us to discuss what Denmark and the Nordic Region can do in relation to the Arctic – a region that is now attracting renewed interest from the US, China and Russia. And not without reason: the Arctic is an area of major political importance. New transport routes, a strategic security area and enormous natural reserves are at stake – just to mention some of the most obvious themes. The Arctic is also an area of concern for Denmark and the Danish Commonwealth, as well as for several other Nordic countries that geographically form part of the vast area.
Denmark and the other Nordic countries must work together to strengthen their joint crisis preparedness, say the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Denmark, the Nordic region and the rest of the world were not ready for Covid-19, it has been pointed out from several sides. The criticism has been made that many countries around the world closed in on themselves and ignored the possibility of co-operating their way out of the crisis. This must not happen again in the Nordic countries, which is why we need to co-operate in crisis preparedness.
But what should such preparedness involve? Is it even possible? And will Denmark and the rest of the Nordic region be willing to follow a common line the next time the world is hit by a health crisis or the like? We will be putting these questions to the panel and the audience.
