Civilian Power Europe in Arctic(1).pdf

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CivilianPowerEuropein
theArctic:HowFarCanthe
EuropeanUnionGoNorth?
Piotr Kobza
DEPARTMENT OF EU INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY STUDIES
EU Diplomacy Paper
01 / 2015
Department of EU International
Relations and Diplomacy Studies
EU Diplomacy Papers
1/2015
Civilian Power Europe in the Arctic:
How Far Can the European Union Go North?
Piotr Kobza
© Piotr Kobza 2015
Dijver 11 | BE-8000 Bruges, Belgium | Tel. +32 (0)50 477 251 | Fax +32 (0)50 477 250 |
E-mail info.ird@coleurope.eu | www.coleurope.eu/ird
Piotr Kobza
About the Author
Piotr Kobza is a career diplomat working presently as political counsellor at the
Embassy of Poland in The Hague. Previously he served inter alia as head of the
political section of the Embassy of Poland in Oslo and as coordinator for the
European Neighborhood Policy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw. He holds a
PhD degree in International Relations from the University of Warsaw and has made
several research internships, such as at the Kent State University, USA, and the
University of Geneva, Switzerland. All opinions presented in the text are personal.
Editorial Team:
Nicola Del Medico, Sieglinde Gstöhl, Enrique Ibáñez Gonzalez, Lucas Maurer,
Jonatan Thompson, Anna Wardell
Dijver 11 | BE-8000 Bruges, Belgium | Tel. +32 (0)50 477 251 | Fax +32 (0)50 477 250 |
E-mail ird.info@coleurope.eu | www.coleurope.eu/ird
Views expressed in the
EU Diplomacy Papers
are those of the authors only and do
not necessarily reflect positions of either the series editors or the College of Europe.
2
EU Diplomacy Paper 1/2015
Abstract
The EU Arctic policy, initiated in the European Commission’s Communication “The
European Union and the Arctic region” in 2008, was created to respond to the rising
expectations that the European Union would have a bigger stake in this region which
was gaining in importance due to its ecologic vulnerability, economic potential and
clashing political interests of the global powers. Whether the European Union
managed to establish itself as a significant actor in the Arctic through this new policy
is open for discussion. Arguably, while the genuine interest and influence of the EU
institutions was there to give a kick-start to this initiative, the pressure of the traditional
and still dominant members of the regional Arctic system has been sufficient so far to
effectively prevent it from realizing its full potential.
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Piotr Kobza
Introduction
The adoption of the Conclusions on the Arctic by the Foreign Affairs Council of the
European Union (EU) on 12 May 2014
1
marks symbolically the end of the first half
decennium of the implementation of the EU Arctic policy, inaugurated by the
European Commission’s Communication of 20 November 2008.
2
In the development
of EU policies, especially the ones with a strong external component, five years
cannot be considered a long time. Despite that, the Arctic policy seems to be well
established in the working cycle of the EU. An attempt can thus be made to make a
first assessment of its successes and failures on the background of the goals set forth
in the relevant policy documents.
The EU Arctic policy as an analytic phenomenon presents some difficulties. These do,
however, not concern the way it came into being, which was quite simple. It seems
unnecessary to list the many authors dealing with the subject who all agree that the
Arctic was bound to become at some stage an object of interest for the European
Union because of the growing importance of the northern regions for the European
economy (energy and transportation routes in particular) and the environmental
challenges which are especially visible in the North.
3
The reason for the emergence
of the Arctic policy is as such quite clear – it is the way it evolved and the shape it
took which is a little more peculiar and thus worth analyzing.
There are some peculiarities visible at first sight about the EU Arctic policy. The first is
an uncertain stage of its development, which raises doubts if it can be really called
an “EU policy” in any acceptable meaning of this term. If the answer is no, or not yet,
then what possible interferences prevent it from fully realizing its potential, and how
can it be labelled? The second peculiarity is a unique compass of the EU Arctic
initiative presenting an unconventional internal/cross-border/external mix, in which
the EU varies in competences, strength and influence. The third reason is the legal
complexity of the territories on which the EU wants to operate, as the areas in
Council of the European Union, “Council conclusions on developing a European Union
policy towards the Arctic region”, Foreign Affairs Council Meeting, Brussels, 12 May 2014.
2
European Commission,
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament
and the Council “The European Union and the Arctic region”,
COM(2008) 763, Brussels, 20
November 2008.
3
For background reading see, for instance, Østhagen, Andreas, “The European Union – An
Arctic Actor?”,
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies,
vol. 15, no. 2, 2013, pp. 71-92; Airoldi,
Adele,
The European Union and the Arctic: Developments and Perspectives 2010-2014,
Copenhagen, Nordic Council of Ministers, 2014; and especially the series of “The Arctic
Yearbooks” edited by L. Heininen, to be consulted at http://arcticyearbook.com.
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