Origins
The EU Arctic Forum was started in 2010 as a non-profit, cross-sector and cross-party neutral platform in the European Parliament, soon becoming the meeting place and a driving force behind the European Parliament’s “Report on a Sustainable EU policy for the High North” by bringing together leading political figures and experts and stakeholders of the Arctic.The idea for the Forum was originally introduced during the preparations for the Report in 2009. The Parliament’s report is unique as regards expertise on the subject, and was praised later by Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Füle as the “third pillar of EU Arctic Policy basic architecture”.
Since then, the Forum has developed into a meeting point for discussions about Arctic issues in Brussels within a broader European context involving not only core EU institutions such as the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European External Action Service, regions and politicians, but also prominent actors, institutes, companies and networks of science and business both from within and outside the Arctic region.