15 November 1975, Stockholm

The birth of a bank: the Nordic Council says yes to NIB 

The sun has barely risen on the chilly Saturday morning of 15 November 1975, as the members of the Nordic Council hurry towards the Parliament House in Stockholm. The politicians, representing the five Nordic countries including former, current and future prime ministers, have been called in for the Council’s first-ever extraordinary meeting. The founding of a Nordic investment bank is on the agenda. 

“Ærede rådsmedlemmer! Mine damer og herrer!” “Honoured Council members! Ladies and gentlemen!”. At nine o’clock, the President of the Council, Icelandic Ragnhildur Helgadóttir reaches for her gavel to open the session. 
 
More than twenty years of discussions and debate about the existence of such a bank have led up to this moment. Now, in 1975, the Nordic region is suffering from considerable deficits and unemployment following the recent oil crisis and the related recession. There is an urgent need for outside capital to speed up investments, and the plans to establish a Nordic investment bank have finally been brought to the table.  

The Parliament House (Riksdagshuset) in Stockholm.

The debate and vote 
The plenary hall in the Parliament House (Riksdagshuset) witnesses an intense debate this day. One of the leading voices objecting to the establishment of the bank is Kåre Willoch, Minister of Trade from the Norwegian Conservative Party: 
 
“Unfortunately, it is typical for the handling of this case, that the Nordic Council of Ministers not at all has looked into the need for this institution. The decision to establish it has been taken without investigation, and following that, it has only been investigated how the institution should be established”. 

Ivar Nørgaard, Danish social democratic Minister for Foreign and Nordic Affairs, however states: “Madame President! It is the hope of the Council of Ministers that this is the last time a proposal to establish a Nordic investment bank is discussed by the Nordic Council, and that the next time the bank is on the agenda, it is in the form of an annual report!” 

After hours of debate, the Council votes in favour of the Nordic Investment Bank with the clear majority of 59 to 10. Five members abstain from voting. The following year, in 1976, NIB starts its operations in Helsinki. 
 
 

Established in 1952, the Nordic Council is the official body for inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation. Today, the Council consists of 87 elected MPs representing the parliaments of Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Åland. 

The Nordic Council of Ministers is the corresponding body for inter-governmental cooperation.