Focus on the Arctic at the ECPR, Tampere, 13-15 September 2012

The European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Standing Group on the EU organized its 6th Pan-European Conference in Tampere, last fall. A panel was dedicated to the Arctic in the section on EU Foreign Policy and external Relations: “EU and Arctic: policy framework, challenges and perspectives”. Cécile Pelaudeix, lecturer at Sciences Po Lyon, and research associate at AFF, presented a paper in the Arctic panel.

 

Alexander Stubb, Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade and Federiga Bindi (University of Rome Tor Vergata), during the Plenary session: ’Europe in the World’

Chaired by Michal Luczsuk, Assisting Professor in the Department of International Relations at the Maria Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland, the Arctic panel intended to reconsider new challenges for the EU foreign relations in the High North and to open a new research topic within the European studies field. Discussing the shifting interests of Sweden in the Arctic, from a focus on civil cooperation to one highlighting more strategic considerations, Carina Keskitalo (“Sweden, EU and the Arctic Policy Context: Possibilities for new wine in old bottles?”), offered a critical perspective on the Swedish Arctic policy. She argued that recent strategic considerations may have led to an increased focus on continued Swedish and EU roles in relation to the Arctic Ocean states, with the ultimate aim of influencing areas that may impact security under conditions of climate change.

Cécile Pelaudeix (“The EU Arctic policy and the bilateral relations with Canada and Norway”), analyzed the very differentiated responses of the 2 Arctic States to the EU Arctic policy and related policies, and showed that the EU Arctic policy is not a standalone policy but that its effects, as a significant policy within the EU Foreign Policy, can be better assessed in light of the different perceptions of the European Union and its impacts on the global arena.

The Academics attending the panel showed a great interest in understanding the EU perspective in the Arctic, and in the construction of a EU Arctic Foreign Policy with EU Arctic states and associated states.

You can find more information about the conference here.

Dr. Cécile Pelaudeix
Research associate, PACTE-Institute of Political Studies, Grenoble
Advisor and Senior Research Fellow , AFF


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