The EU’s Arctic Policy: Between Vision and Reality. CEPOB #5.19, August 2019

• Main Authors: Stepien, Adam, Raspotnik, Andreas
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: EU-Arctic; Arctic; Pillar; Climate change
• Online Access: http://aei.pitt.edu/100446/; http://aei.pitt.edu/100446/1/stepien_raspotnik_cepob_5%2D19_0.pdf

> The EU’s Arctic policy statements have so far been primarily aggregations of existing actions, wrapped in high-level rhetoric. > EU policy-makers have not yet developed a convincing Arctic narrative to broadly engage the EUropean public in Arctic matters. > Although no dramatic changes took place in the Arctic in the last years, security questions and high politics have become more visible. > The current main themes of the EU’s Arctic policy – climate, sustainable development and international cooperation – should be kept. Climate change should not be the only pillar of the EU’s Arctic engagement. Policymakers need to propose concrete future-oriented actions for issues such as marine litter. At the same time, the EU should not openly raise security questions. > To operationalize its policies, the EU should re-consider the current institutional set-up of its Arctic policy, including ways to involve the European Parliament and making internal long-term coordination more effective.