In its Report on the on a sustainable EU policy for the High North, the Parliament requests the Commission to set up “a permanent inter-service structure” for Arctic issues, which is to ensure a “coherent, coordinated and integrated policy approach across key policy areas”. In this structure should be included the DG MARE’s current Arctic Service, the parliament members argue. In addition, the MEPs want the new European External Action Service to include a special Arctic unit.
Arctic Information Centre
The report also urges the Commission to step up the establishment of an Arctic Information Centre, a unit which could be based in Rovaniemi, northern Finland. As previously reported by BarentsObserver, Finland is strongly lobbying the localization of the centre in Rovaniemi, the Finnish Arctic city which today hosts the Finnish Arctic Centre and the University of Lapland.
Interestingly, the parliament document title refers to the “High North” and not the Arctic as such, a wording which more resembles the vocabulary of Norwegian strategies than previous EU documents on the region. The document is elaborated as parliament input to the Arctic Policy currently under elaboration by the Commission. That, in its turn, is a further elaboration of the Communication on the Arctic Region, a document presented by the Commission in 2008.
More focus on Barents
The report is elaborated by the parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee and was approved by the parliament assembly on 9 December last year. As noted by the Brussels-based North Norway European Office, the report was adopted with only a few amendments, among which were a mention of the network of Northern Sparsely Populated Areas (NSPA) and a stronger emphasis of the role of the Barents Cooperation.
Emphasis on natural resources
The document does stress the paramount importance of environmental protection. However, it is still the natural resources which are the prime concern of the parliamentarians. Thus, the report reads that “since it is estimated that about a fifth of the remaining hydrocarbon resources are to be found in the Arctic these resources might be of particular importance to the EU until the goal of a low carbon economy will be achieved”. Likewise, the document states that “since the rise of new economies is resulting in an increasing need for resources, energy and minerals, the EU has a natural interest in ensuring security of supply of resources and energy needed for the population and industries in Europe”.
Furthermore, it concludes that “the perception of the Arctic as a pristine and untouched place that solely needs to be preserved is not correct.”
No Arctic Treaty needed
The document also includes a clear shift in the parliament’s position on the need for an Arctic Treaty, a controversial point which was highlighted in the Parliament’s resolution on Arctic governance from October 2008. Now, however, the parliament stresses that “the idea of an Arctic Treaty, modeled along the Treaty for the continent of Antarctica, […] wouldn’t be an appropriate way to deal with the challenges in the Arctic.
The parliament also gives its full support for the Commission’s bid for permanent observer status in the Arctic Council, something which for a long time has been an EU objective and which also is reflected in the Commission’s Communication on the Arctic Region. The document also highlights the role of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council as a forum for regional EU participation and calls the Barents Cooperation “the Arctic window of the Northern Dimension Policy with Russia”.
Interestingly, the document also highlights the ongoing EU membership negotiations with Iceland. “The geopolitical picture would change considerably if Iceland’s EU accession negotiations prove successful” and “Icelandic membership would strengthen the EU’s presence in the region”, the document reads.
Read the a draft version of the report on the European Parliament’s website
