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Europe's Arctic moment · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, leaders from the Nordic and Baltic countries, along with
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: some of the EU's largest members, have been arriving in
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Finland ahead of the European Arctic Summit. Finland is hoping
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  Speaker 1: to draw attention to the Arctic region's economy and security
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: during the two-day meeting in Rovaniemi, which is the capital
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of Finnish Lapland. The summit comes as Donald Trump has
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: repeatedly expressed interest in taking control of Greenland and with
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  Speaker 1: Russia increasingly threatening Europe. The leaders are expected to call
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: for a the EU to take a more proactive role
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: in the Arctic and to commit adequate resources to the region.
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  Speaker 1: It's nice to welcome Marisol Maddox back to DW, Senior
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  Speaker 1: Arctic Fellow at the Institute of Arctic Studies at Dartmouth College.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Welcome to you. Now, this summit, as I mentioned, is
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: meant to refresh the EU's Arctic strategy that predates the
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  Speaker 1: Ukraine war. Russia and China want more influence in the
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Arctic region. But so does Donald Trump with Greenland. This
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  Speaker 1: is a real tightrope, I guess, for the EU. What
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  Speaker 1: should its new strategy look like?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, as you mentioned, the EU's previous Arctic strategy was
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  Speaker 2: written in 2021. And so we're living in a very
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  Speaker 2: different world. And so I think one of the real
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  Speaker 2: things that we need to see from this new strategy
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  Speaker 2: and the real opportunity that the European Union has is
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  Speaker 2: is to actually make it more of a clear strategy
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  Speaker 2: that has more of a strategic focus for the region
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  Speaker 2: and to really clarify what does the European Union want
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  Speaker 2: from its Arctic engagement and its presence and what role
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  Speaker 2: does it see for itself and how can it bring
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  Speaker 2: these different elements of geopolitical concerns, climate change concerns, security,
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  Speaker 2: all of this together to really be able to bring
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  Speaker 2: the capacity that they have as 27 European countries plus
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  Speaker 2: incredibly powerful partners in the European economic area to really
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  Speaker 2: make this more of a real strategic focus.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: These are some real fundamental questions, and I would like
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  Speaker 1: to get into some specifics, particularly when it comes to Greenland.
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  Speaker 1: How should the EU's Arctic strategy address how to handle
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  Speaker 1: an ally, the US, whose interests in the region clash
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  Speaker 1: with Europe's own sovereignty?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think the EU could address that issue.
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  Speaker 2: by just reiterating that respect for sovereignty and the rules-based
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  Speaker 2: order is at the key, at the heart of the
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  Speaker 2: stability for the region that is necessary for prosperity to occur.
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  Speaker 2: We all have so much to gain by keeping the
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  Speaker 2: region peaceful and as conflict-free as possible. And by really
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  Speaker 2: focusing on areas of mutual interest and all that we
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  Speaker 2: have to gain by working together, that just makes a
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  Speaker 2: lot more sense, you know, versus, you know, when there's divisiveness,
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  Speaker 2: that's where adversaries can really benefit. And so it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: behoove any of the NATO members, including the United States,
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  Speaker 2: for that to occur.
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  Speaker 1: Now, the EU is also concerned about hybrid threats in
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  Speaker 1: the Arctic, and there have been a number of those
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  Speaker 1: recently announced on Europe linked to Russia. What does a
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  Speaker 1: hybrid attack look like in the Arctic context specifically? Can
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  Speaker 1: you give us some examples?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so basically the issue with hybrid threats that kind
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  Speaker 2: of distinguishes them from more overt acts of aggression is
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  Speaker 2: that ability to really make it challenging to have clear
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  Speaker 2: attribution in a timely manner. And so that's where we
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  Speaker 2: see a lot of concerns about drones that were buzzing
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  Speaker 2: Norway's Arctic energy infrastructure, looking at protecting our subsea critical infrastructure.
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  Speaker 2: One of the incidents that's come up time and again
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  Speaker 2: for Norway and Finland and others is the ability to
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  Speaker 2: deter hybrid threats against critical subsea infrastructure. So things like
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  Speaker 2: data cables, pipelines, all of that. And so being able
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  Speaker 2: to really take a more aggressive approach is really important.
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  Speaker 2: And we actually just saw that occur off of Svalbard,
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  Speaker 2: where there was a U.S., Norwegian, and U.K. response to
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  Speaker 2: a Russian vessel that was looking at some subsea submersibles
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  Speaker 2: that could actually destroy a pipeline or cut a cable
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  Speaker 2: and then in a way that we couldn't detect it
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  Speaker 2: and be able to prevent that. But we saw that
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  Speaker 2: this was actually proactively engaged and then it was communicated
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  Speaker 2: to the media. So they are taking kind of a
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  Speaker 2: different approach. But this is something that, again, there's an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity for the EU to kind of double down in
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  Speaker 2: its new strategy on taking these types of threats seriously.
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  Speaker 1: Now, we're speaking to you in the context of the
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  Speaker 1: European Arctic Summit, and forgive my scepticism, but summits like
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  Speaker 1: this do tend to produce strong language and modest follow-through.
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  Speaker 1: Can you tell us what's one concrete measurable thing that
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  Speaker 1: you would like to see happen in the next 12 months?
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  Speaker 2: So the EU's Arctic strategy will be coming out sometime
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  Speaker 2: this fall. And so what I want to see from
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  Speaker 2: that is clarity of vision, right? So that's really, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's up to the EU member states and the partners
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  Speaker 2: that they've been working with, like Norway and Iceland and Greenland,
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  Speaker 2: to really have a more confident strategy and assert themselves
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: as credible actor that they are in the region. So
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  Speaker 2: that's going to be really important. I think also seeing
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  Speaker 2: doubling down on scientific research, looking ahead to 2032 when
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  Speaker 2: we have the next international polar year, that's a real
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to really leverage this historically consequential international convening of
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  Speaker 2: science that can make groundbreaking discoveries. And the Arctic is
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  Speaker 2: changing faster than anywhere on Earth, and it has tremendous
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  Speaker 2: international security consequences. So this is really something that matters
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  Speaker 2: not just from a science perspective, but from a strategic
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  Speaker 2: foresight and planning and future prosperity perspective.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your analysis, Marisol. We've been
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  Speaker 1: speaking to Marisol Maddox, Senior Arctic Fellow at the Institute
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: of Arctic Studies at Dartmouth College. Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.