Freedom of movement a focal point at Session of Nordic Council

The issue of digital mobility and identity matching across Nordic borders is a high priority in Nordic co-operation. This was evident during the Session, where the topic topped the agenda both for the Freedom of Movement Council, which works to improve freedom of movement within the Nordic Region, as well as for the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation, who met on Monday. 

The Nordic ministers for digitalisation, as well as the Nordic prime ministers, have previously emphasised in separate declarations the importance of enhanced co-operation on digital mobility. Many obstacles to freedom of movement, such as administrative obstacles that create problems for people and businesses operating across borders, are due to the countries’ digital identification systems being incompatible. 

For example, a person with a Swedish eID cannot manage their affairs on Danish, Finnish or Norwegian authorities’ websites, and vice versa. This creates substantial administrative burdens for mobile Nordic citizens and businesses, and hampers mobility across borders.

The EU requires these systems to function across member states, and the Nordic countries are working together to identify joint solutions, with the aim of the Nordic Region leading the way for the rest of the EU. 

The Nordic-Baltic eID Project (NOBID), funded by the ministerial council for digitalisation, is playing a central role in this work. A key challenge identified in meeting EU requirements is identity matching between the Nordic countries and between the authorities responsible for providing information about their citizens. 

To streamline and co-ordinate the processes, both the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation and the Freedom of Movement Council are now directing additional efforts towards finding solutions, in close co-operation with the relevant national bodies and the ministerial council for digitalisation, MR-Digital.

Nordic building regulations were another focal point for the Freedom of Movement Council during the Session. The Freedom of Movement Council, together with the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Svinesund Committee, and the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), organised a full-day conference, Co-ordination of Nordic Building Regulations, where the main message was that the Nordic Region needs to co-ordinate the regulatory frameworks governing the Nordic construction market in order to boost competition, streamline the construction sector, and create an expanded market for innovation.

The seminar brought together a wide range of stakeholders in the construction sector from both the private and public spheres. In connection with the seminar, an opinion piece was published in Dagens Industri under the headline How to create a common Nordic construction market, signed by representatives of both the Freedom of Movement Council and the Svinesund Committee.

Questions of freedom of movement and efforts to eradicate obstacles to freedom of movement were also raised during the plenary session of the Swedish Riksdag. This included debates associated with the reports by the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation. In the report on efforts concerning obstacles to freedom of movement, covering the period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, it was noted that four obstacles had been eradicated, while five were deemed unsolvable. 

Obstacles to freedom of movement were also on the agenda when the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation met the Presidium of the Nordic Council, and when the ministers held a political dialogue with the Nordic Council’s Committee for Growth and Development, with a focus on the Nordic Council of Ministers’ work on obstacles to freedom of movement and the new programme for this.

The Freedom of Movement Council held a meeting with the three cross-border information services and Info Norden, the information service of the Nordic Council of Ministers, in addition to its own meeting, where the primary focus was obstacles to freedom of movement linked to digital solutions.

Nordregio, a research institute under the Nordic Council of Ministers, attended the meeting and provided an overview of its research into digital inclusion and recent research findings relating to Nordic labour mobility. Finally, obstacles to freedom of movement concerning the language requirement for Norwegian apprenticeship programmes were confirmed as resolved: approved proficiency in Swedish and Danish is now recognised as equivalent to the Norwegian language requirement.

Chair of the Freedom of Movement Council, Fredrik Karlström, was pleased with the week.

“It’s gratifying that we have so many stakeholders working to remove obstacles to freedom of movement. Not least the fact that the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation have made work on digital mobility and ID matching such a high priority gives us hope that we can start achieving concrete results. This is also necessary if we’re to deliver on the objectives outlined in the vision for the Nordic Region to be the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030,” says Karlström.

The Freedom of Movement Council’s Co-Chair, Astrid Thors from Finland, was also satisfied with her first Session as a new member of the Freedom of Movement Council.

“I agree with Fredrik’s assessment, and would also like to highlight the important work carried out by the information services in facilitating everyday integration between our countries.  But much remains to be done if we’re to make the vision of becoming the most integrated region in the world a reality. Additional political pressure is required if we’re to achieve this.”