Breaking the Ice

Abstract

An accelerated path of climate change has tremendously increased the Arctic's profile over the last decade. Formerly remote and of little relevance, the region now attracts significant political and economic interest as melting ice opens possibilities for the exploitation of Arctic natural resources and access to new trade routes. Rising temperatures and sea level as a result of retreating snow and ice coverage also provoke global security concerns. Consequently, interested states increasingly link the Arctic more closely to their security and foreign policy strategies. In addition, existing territorial disputes combined with unsettled patterns of governance and actor constellations trigger regional developments with important implications for international legal and political systems.As developments in the Arctic region project themselves globally, they will necessarily have certain repercussions for European countries and their citizens. It is reported that about half of the fish caught in polar waters are consumed in the European Union.1 One quarter of the oil and gas extracted from the Arctic flows to the EU and contributes to its energy security.2 Over the last decade, 200 million euros were generated from European funds (within the EU framework programs) for Arctic scientific research.3 As the largest trading block and in control of 40 percent of world commercial shipping, the EU also has a natural interest in securing nondiscriminatory access to the strategically important northern sea route and the Northwest Passage.4Geography serves as an additional legitimating factor for the EU's concerns in the Arctic. Indeed, it is hard not to have a stake in the region when three of its member states - Finland, Denmark/ Greenland, and Sweden - participate in the main governmental forum for circumpolar cooperation, the Arctic Council. Norway and Iceland are parties to the European economic area agreement, which links them closely to the EU's policies. More than that, prompted by severe financial crisis, Iceland is on its way towards EU membership, something that might upgrade the EU's leverage in the Arctic significantly. Finally, Canada, Russia, and the US belong to a vast group of the EU's strategic partners that are tied to the EU by a number of specific pacts.Given the changing strategic importance of the region and a necessity to protect and promote its own interests and values, the EU has declared a clear intention to be more engaged in Arctic affairs and to develop its own Arctic policy. This motion also corresponds to a general objective of European governments to set up a more ambitious union foreign policy and to enhance its effectiveness, given the opportunities provided by the Lisbon treaty.5This article provides a brief sketch of the development of the EU's Arctic policy, placing its institutions at the centre of the analysis. It starts with a short examination of the external and internal triggers that led to the call for a unified and coordinated Arctic policy and continues with a more detailed investigation of the preferences and institutional roles of the European Commission, the European parliament, and the EU Arctic Forum, as well as the member-states, in developing a common policy for the region. The article then turns to the current chaUenges and future prospects of EU Arctic policy, given that the policy itself is a work in progress. FinaUy, some concluding remarks are provided on the question of how to make the EU's Arctic policy successful.MAPPING THE GROUND: OVERVIEW OF THE EU'S INITIAL INVOLVEMENTThe Arctic first became a target of attention of EU policymakers at the end of the 1980s, when a number of members of the European parliament started to question the commission about the state of the environment in the Arctic.6 With the EU's northern enlargement in the mid-90s, the region's salience grew even more. Drawing on a proposal from Finland, the EU adopted the northern dimension policy as a strategy of practical cooperation with the Baltic states, Russia, and the European economic area countries. …