Llulissat, 29/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - The ministerial conference on the northern dimension and the "arctic group" held on Wednesday in Llulissat, in western Greenland, will draw attention to issues that are specific to the Far North. The "spirit of the meeting" was shown when delegations took a helicopter flight over a frozen fjord or took a boat excursion along the blue mass of icebergs, said Danish European Affairs Minister Bertel Haarder when speaking to the press. The introduction given by two scientists of the environmental problems facing the arctic region highlighted the impact that such problems have on our environment as a whole, he noted.
The idea of including an "arctic group" in the northern dimension, requested by Greenland's Prime Minister Jonathan Motzfeldt, did not, however, go beyond the very early stages. The issue is to be tackled during a meeting of senior officials in October who will prepare the broad lines of the next action plan 2003-2006 for the Northern Dimension (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.2). Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark but not of the European Union, should not, however, be directly represented at this meeting. The management of the borders with Russia after enlargement and cooperation around the Baltic Sea remain the main lines of the Northern Dimension. The Danish EU Presidency notes in its conclusions that the Northern Dimension should, in its global approach, be used as a framework for reflecting the advantages of enlargement over the whole of the region and hence over the whole of Europe.
The prospect of an agreement between the EU and Greenland that goes beyond the fisheries agreement already in force were not specified. The Commission is "not yet in a position" at this stage to say whether an agreement may be signed, said Hugues Mingarelli, Director at the European Commission. Neither was the concrete content that Greenland hopes to give the agreement specified.
Bertel Haarder hoped the new action plan for the Northern Dimension could be adopted during the Greek, or possibly Italian, Council Presidency, that is, during 2003. Mr Haarder did not deny that this question, so dear to the Scandinavian countries, will not necessarily be a priority of the two forthcoming Presidencies. He remarked, however, in a joking manner, that the fact of tackling the arctic issue when temperatures are up to 40° could bring a little fresh air to debates. As the Presidency conclusions stress, the participants placed emphasis on the need to ensure better coordination with the different public and private actors of the Northern Dimension and to focus on several priorities. The delegations stressed that financial coordination is advantageously ensured by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the other financial institutions, which makes it possible to make the transition between the donations that finance preparation of the projects, and loans. The Commission, however, is expected to maintain a supervisory role over the process, noted the Presidency conclusions. It is not foreseen that a specific budgetary line will be created for the Northern Dimension, confirmed Hugues Mingarelli, recalling that the projects are currently financed by the PHARE, TACIS and Interreg programmes in particular.