Twelve European countries meeting in Finland on Monday urged the European Union (EU) to beef up its presence in the Arctic – a contentious geopolitical battleground caught between Russia and US President Donald Trump. "We call for the European Union to take on a more strategic and proactive role in the European Arctic," the countries' leaders wrote in a joint statement following a European Arctic Summit in the town of Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, attended by Denmark, France, Germany, Greece and Sweden, among others. The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc was in need of icebreakers, but it was not immediately clear if she was proposing joint acquisition or urging member states to bolster their own capacities. Given "the situation that we are in, and considering climate change and the opening of maritime routes, we need icebreakers or ships that are able to navigate in these very difficult" conditions, Kallas told reporters.
Scientists study Greenland's melting ice
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