The European Union’s Gateways to the Arctic

Abstract:

The European Union (EU) is increasingly depicted as an actor with a growing interest towards the Arctic region. In order to shed light on the various possibilities for the EU's involvement in Arctic affairs, this article aims to have a close look at potential EU 'gateways' to the Arctic, subdivided into geographical-institutional and policy links, and their logical interaction. The former aspect looks at the historical, institutional, and legal links between the EU and the three Arctic actors Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. The latter examines concrete steps of cooperation between the EU and these countries in selected, Arctic-relevant policy areas. These include the challenges of environmental protection in general and climate change and sustainable development in particular, and the possibilities of benefitting from newly available Arctic resources such as oil and gas, shipping routes and fishing grounds.