Through the promotion of an environmental agenda, the European Commission is set to become an important stakeholder in the Arctic region. On 20 November, the Commission presented a Communication which focuses on this region. The continuous change in the global environment, as well as states’ priorities in the tackling of global challenges, has spurred the Commissioner responsible for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy to address the needs of setting upgraded and adjusted policy objectives with regard to this vulnerable region and its surroundings. Such targets will not only focus on climate change and human activities in the Arctic, but it will also help to put into effect the European Union’s Integrated Maritime Policy.
The Arctic region, geographically situated in the immediate vicinity of Europe, is bound to vitally affect the future lives of European citizens. Greater interest among European states in the Arctic zone will create new relations with the Arctic states. Consequently such steps would help to enhance multilateral governance and to strike the right balance in the preservation of the environment and sustaining the use of natural resources.
The EU’s interest in the Arctic led to its application for an observer status in the Arctic Council, a high-level intergovernmental forum. The effects of climate change in the Arctic region are likely to lead to negative repercussions on the environment, energy, research, fisheries and transport in particular. The Arctic region will benefit from a “collaborative platform” to face the future challenges. On this note, the Communication is thus emphasising a closer link between the European Union and the Arctic. This would provide a comprehensive analysis of both EU interests in the region as well as what the region itself requires to implement policy objectives, such as its protection and preservation, the promotion of the sustainable use of resources and the contribution to enhancing Arctic and multilateral governance.
The forthcoming EU Arctic initiative will mirror the Integrated Maritime policy, which coordinates all EU policies from environmental sustainability to the effects on maritime industries. Moreover, an EU Arctic policy, would require a holistic approach towards all policies that are related to it by creating, enhancing, emphasising and promoting, as much as possible, both unilaterally as well as together with other regional and international organisations, objectives to conserve this region which, it is believed, hosts large amounts of oil and natural gas. Exploration activities should therefore be carried out according to the highest environmental standards, whereas large parts of its ocean should remain international waters with the principle of freedom of navigation and the right of innocent passage, still in place.
Ms Azzopardi is Research Analyst at the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC)