Nordic Social Security Convention to be renewed
The Ministries of Social Affairs and Health of the Nordic countries signed a new Nordic Social Security Convention in Bergen in Norway on 12 June.
The agreement is in accordance with the principles of the EU Social Security Regulations. The new convention supplements EU legislation such that it covers all the Nordic countries and all the groups of people resident in them, in other words, also citizens of third countries resident in the Nordic countries and, geographically, the Faeroes and Greenland.
Certain special provisions of the current convention have also been retained in the new agreement. For example, what is known as the five-year entitlement to return provision on the payment of unemployment benefit and the provision on the payment of the additional costs of repatriation in the event of illness will remain in place. Compensation for the costs of unemployment allowance between the Nordic countries will be abolished.
"The convention makes the position of our citizens easier and simplifies administration. It emphasises the importance of cooperation between the authorities more clearly than before. Above all, it is an indication of our desire for wide-ranging cooperation on social security to benefit our citizens," says Finnish Minister of Social Affairs and Health Paula Risikko.
In Finland the new Social Security Convention requires the approval of the Finnish parliament. It is estimated that the convention will enter into force in spring 2013 once it has been ratified in all the Nordic countries.
Further information
Assistant head of department Carin Lindqvist-Virtanen, tel. +358 295 516 3166
Ministerial counsellor Katriina Alaviuhkola, tel. +358 295 516 3167
Related topics
Related links