Alexander Stubb, famous in the Barents Region for branding the north as the world´s most sexy region, is put on track to take over after Jyrki Katainen.
The Norwegian government has decided to drop its announced plans for a major merger of counties. Originally, the number of counties was to be reduced from 19 to between six and eight.
The Murmansk regional administration has got 60 additional powers and has hired 625 new people. Now several regional ministries will be established as part of a major administrative restructuring plan.
Climate change and the Arctic, international law, national interests, Russia and the Barents Cooperation were among the field of priorities in Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støres recent foreign policy address to parliament.
Russia prepares to present an application to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf when it next convenes in 2009, Russian law maker and Arctic explorer Artur Chilingarov said last week. The bid includes control over a 1,2 million square kilometres part of the Arctic shelf
Several Norwegian opposition politicians say Russia’s intervention in the South Ossetia crisis shows that the country has Great Power aspirations, which could eventually pose a threat against Norwegian positions in the High North. Also in Sweden, the Caucasus conflict now triggers a domestic defence policy debate.
Over the last 20 years, the West has failed to show respect and understand Russian positions, Swedish researcher Jan Oberg writes in a comment. -It is not in the West’s best interest to continue bullying and humiliating Russia, he underlines.
Arkhangelsk Governor Ilya Mikhalchuk in a meeting with the Arkhangelsk city administration this week expressed dissatisfaction with the local state of affairs. –I still do not see any development dynamics in the city, the governor said.
The Norwegian Labour Party’s youth organization, AUF, says that the oil industry is bluffing constantly about it’s environmental efforts. In AUF’s opinion, the Labour Party, a senior partner in Norway’s government coalition, is naive when it believes in the oil industry’s promises.
Arkhangelsk Governor Ilya Mikhalchuk this week announced that he will fire 30 percent of the employees in his regional administration in a bid to cut costs.
Early voting in the EU Parliament elections started today. If you live in Sweden, Finland or any other EU country you should start casting your votes now.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says the regional leaders with the worst figures on unemployment and salary debts will be dismissed. That has made the governors actively fake economic figures.
