By sheer coincidence, just a few days after Icelanders voted not to resume EU accession negotiations (see EUROPE 13927/2), on Tuesday 1 September the European Commission made the Arctic central to its agenda once more, announcing an update to its policy in the region, the framework for which has not changed since 2021.
Opening the EU Arctic Forum, the Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jozef Síkela, stated that the Far North and the EU are “inseparable”. “Not only because of geography (...), but by the challenges we share,” he explained, citing trade and security issues as examples.
“So the question is not whether we handle this better together. The question is how”, he continued, a few days before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Greenland on 6 and 7 September.
The Commissioner argued in favour of new European investments, while in passing highlighting the region’s economic importance for an EU that “needs materials it does not have”. In particular, he cited graphite and molybdenum, which are essential for batteries and defence.
The Commissioner confirmed that he and Kaja Kallas had been tasked with preparing this doctrinal update. Assistance will also be provided by Jyrki Katainen, the former Finnish Prime Minister, who last April was appointed Special Adviser for the EU-Arctic Relations.
A needed revision, according to a study on modernising the EU’s Arctic policy presented on Tuesday to the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The region “is no longer the zone of peace and cooperation it was once considered to be”, say the three Arctic specialists behind the report.
Among their recommendations, the authors argue for the climate-development-cooperation triptych that has so far structured the EU’s doctrine to be rebalanced in favour of giving greater prominence to security issues.
The document recommends stronger “competence on maritime security and hybrid threats linked to Russia”. The authors suggest reinforcing surveillance capabilities by creating a dedicated structure that combines satellite data, automatic ship identification systems, and open-source intelligence.
Link to the study: https://aeur.eu/f/n7x (Original version in French by Louis Dubar)