Group wants next EU budget to boost investment in High North
Twelve EU countries are calling for the EU to take a more proactive role in the High North ahead of the bloc’s next Arctic strategy, urging Brussels to step up investment in the region in the next multiannual budget as Russia expands its military and hybrid activities there.
The call, issued on Monday at a summit in the northern Finnish town of Rovaniemi, comes ahead of the EU’s new Arctic Strategy, due in October, and as member states negotiate the next seven-year budget.
The 12 signatories, which include Finland, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden, urged the EU to “take on a more strategic and proactive role in the European Arctic”.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, who convened the gathering, told reporters after the summit that “in order to respond to the threat posed by Russia, the EU must treat the Arctic as a strategic frontier”.
