A front in the global competition between great powers. The European Commission announces the EU strategy for a key region

A front in the global competition between great powers. The European Commission announces the EU strategy for a key region Security is the central point of the new EU strategy for the Arctic, amid the expansion of Russian and Chinese activities in the region, as well as in the context of the concerns generated by Trump's claims over Greenland. The European Union must change its strategic position in the Arctic, as Russia is consolidating its military presence in this region, and the values that form the basis of security in the area can no longer be considered self-evident, stated by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday. "The Arctic is a place where the tectonic plates of geopolitics collide. And it is not someone else's frontier. It is part of the European Union," von der Leyen affirmed, who presented the EU's new strategy for the Arctic on Tuesday. The strategy was launched at a time when regional competition is intensifying as global warming causes the melting of sea ice. Countries such as Russia, China, and the United States have intensified their activities in a race to claim natural resources and new maritime routes. With three Arctic countries among its 27 members – Denmark, Finland, and Sweden – the European Union has a direct interest in this issue. And the repeated threats by President Donald Trump to bring Greenland under the control of the US have unsettled Europe. A front line The strategy has four priorities: strengthening security and resilience, responding to climate change in the Arctic, prosperity, and opportunities for the people and communities in the region. Security, however, is the central point of its new strategy for the Arctic, amid the expansion of Russian and Chinese activities in the region. This approach marks a significant change from the European Union's strategy of 2021, which focuses mainly on international cooperation, climate, and environmental protection. "As Russia and China intensify their presence and ambitions, the Arctic has become a front line in the global competition between great powers," stated Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief. Extension of the icebreaker fleet According to the strategy, "the EU will cooperate with member states and partners in the Arctic, in conjunction with NATO, to improve the level of preparedness, protect critical infrastructure, and consolidate Europe's capacity to operate in the Arctic conditions, including through the extension of European icebreaker capacity." This part refers to the extension of the European icebreaker fleet. The 27 EU countries have a total of approximately 10 icebreakers, compared to the approximately 40 operated by Russia. "To promote a common awareness of the situation and increased vigilance, a new maritime security center will support the member states and partners in exchange of information and in improving the monitoring of maritime activities in the Arctic," the strategy further states. Focusing on submarine cables and the "phantom fleet" "First, the EU will support the establishment of a coordination center for the cables in the Arctic to monitor, protect, and contribute to the repair of submarine cables in the North Atlantic and the Arctic. It will also invest in smart technologies to detect potential threats to this critical infrastructure. The center will continue to be developed to include the tracking of vessels in the "phantom fleet," the detection of illegal fishing and pollution, as well as the improvement of the coordination of search and rescue operations," the strategy says. This part of the strategy directly targets Russia. "The fusion of the Russian fleet in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic shows that Moscow considers the two regions to be interconnected. We must do the same," stated a high-ranking EU official, before the announcement made by von der Leyen. A "safe" submarine cable Some of the initiatives listed in the strategy aim to reduce dependence on Washington. According to the project, Brussels plans a "safe" submarine cable to connect Greenland and the European continent, as part of a broader "pan-arctic" cable project that will also connect Canada, Japan, and South Korea. The European Union is also working to ensure connectivity via satellite in the Arctic through the IRIS² satellite constellation project, which seeks to rival Starlink. Fossil fuels must remain underground, believes the EU The EU, Reuters observed, maintains its commitment to "ensure that oil, coal, and gas remain underground, including in the Arctic regions," according to the strategy. "Given the specific vulnerabilities of the region, the Commission will cooperate with partners to protect the Arctic environment and to prevent any exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves that pose a threat to the Arctic ecosystem," it is also mentioned in the document. The document does not repeat the commitment from the previous strategy, published in 2021, to make efforts towards "a multilateral legal obligation not to allow any further exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves in the Arctic or in neighboring regions" and not to acquire products from these extractions. An EU official stated that this change reflects the idea that "the world is changing in this region and that, after five years since the launch of the strategy, it is more difficult to reach such a multilateral decision-making process, given the positions of the various parties involved."