The Nordic Defence Cooperation (Nordefco) is a collaboration among the
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...
in the area of defense. Its five members are
Denmark
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,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
,
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
.
The aim of the organization is to strengthen the member countries' defense capabilities by identifying areas for cooperation and to promote effective solutions. The
memorandum of understanding was signed in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
on November 4, 2009, succeeding the
Nordic Supportive Defence Structures (NORDSUP), the
Nordic armaments cooperation (NORDAC) and the
Nordic Coordinated Arrangement for Military Peace Support (NORDCAPS), previous parallel cooperative arrangements.
Participation in the NORDEFCO is voluntary and states can choose which areas they want to collaborate within and to what extent. This means that cooperation can occur bilaterally as well as among all five members. It is also considered within the organizational scope to work with non-Nordic countries in fields where there is an added value to doing so. According to the official webpage, the cooperation is based on the conviction that there is much to be gained through cost sharing, joint solutions, and joint actions. However, it also underlines the fact that NORDEFCO is not a military alliance:
The NORDEFCO does not aim for new military or political alliances between the nations. Mutually reinforcing cooperation in capability development can be achieved without negative influence on participating countries' different foreign and security policy orientation and membership obligations in NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, the EU and the UN. On the contrary, closer practical cooperation in capability development would constitute a supplemental approach in providing the capabilities and forces required by these organisations.
Limitations
Practical Nordic and Scandinavian defence cooperation has been impeded by their differing memberships:
Sweden and Finland are in the process of joining NATO, and have been since May 2022
Organization
The official presidency of the organization rotates among the member states, but the Nordic Ministers of Defence are ultimately responsible for NORDEFCO; they meet twice a year. They preside over the Nordic Defence Policy Steering Committee, composed of senior departmental officers from the member countries. Underneath this committee is the Nordic Military Coordination Committee, composed of
flag officers who represent the member countries'
Chiefs of Defence
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the boa ...
.
The areas of cooperation (COPAs) are divided into five sections:
*Strategic Development (COPA SD)
*Capabilities (COPA CAPA)
*Human Resources & Education (COPA HR&E)
*Training & Exercises (COPA TR&EX)
*Operations (COPA OPS)
These are staffed with senior officers from the participating countries and mandated to further coordinate and implement the given tasks. The recommendations reported back from the COPAs also form the basis for the decisions made by the Nordic Defence Policy Steering Committee and the Nordic Military Coordination Committee.
In addition to the Cooperation Areas
Acquisition & Life Cycle Support(ALCS) is tasked with coordinating and facilitating armaments relating cooperation issues. This is performed through a yearly screening process, where all participating nations provide input from their procurement plans. The plans are compared, screened, and cooperation possibilities, vetted by ALCS, are identified. If considered suitable for further cooperation, established formally as a Subgroup. These Subgroups comprise experts from the participating nations, and are tasked with establishing the foundations for how cooperation can happen; for instance gearing towards a common procurement project. Historically, such cooperation has enabled the Nordic nations to take advantage of upwards of €60 million in cost savings.
See also
*
Common Security and Defence Policy
The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
The CSDP involves the deplo ...
of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
**
Nordic Battle Group
The Nordic Battlegroup (NBG) is one of eighteen European Union battlegroups. It consists of around 2,500 soldiers including officers, with manpower contributed from the seven participating Northern European countries, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Irel ...
*
Nordic Council
The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomou ...
*
Scandinavian Defence Union
*
Scandinavism
Scandinavism ( da, skandinavisme; no, skandinavisme; sv, skandinavism), also called Scandinavianism or pan-Scandinavianism,[Central European Defence Cooperation
The Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) is a military collaboration consisting of the Central European states of Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. Poland has an observer status in this cooperative framewo ...](_blank)
References
Further reading
*
*Bredesen and Friis. 2019.
Governance Entrepreneurs as Spoilers in Nordic Defence Cooperation" Journal of Regional Security (2019), 14:2, 77–100
Håkon Lunde Saxi, 'The rise, fall and resurgence of Nordic defence cooperation', ''International Affairs'', Volume 95, Issue 3, May 2019, Pages 659–680Tuomas Forsberg, 'The rise of Nordic defence cooperation: a return to regionalism?', ''International Affairs'', Volume 89, Issue 5, September 2013, Pages 1161–1181Håkon Lunde Saxi, ''Nordic defence Cooperation after the Cold War'' (Oslo: Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, 2011)*Page Wilson & Ísak Kári Kárason (2020) "
Vision accomplished? A decade of NORDEFCO." ''Global Affairs''.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:NORDEFCO
Nordic organizations
Military of Denmark
Military of Finland
Defence of Iceland
Military of Norway
Military of Sweden
2009 establishments in Finland
Organizations established in 2009