The European North: Historical Geopolitics and International Institutional Dynamics

Résumé du document

A “brave political experiment” calling for “unconventional decisions” promoting sub-regional cooperation that ultimately might develop into “a common European social and economic space” : this is how the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Viktor Khristenko, identified in 2003 the European Union's Northern Dimension . This statement highlights the innovative nature of the EU's Northern Dimension which aims at developing cooperation in various sectors within the Baltic Sea Region. However, the Baltic Sea area counts already several organisations for regional cooperation on issues specific to the neighbouring countries : the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS), the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC), the Arctic Council and the Nordic Council (NC), for instance. The need for another cooperation programme, framed within the EU policy this time, appears thus questionable. What is more, the Northern Dimension, or ND, and especially its environmental concerns, involves not only some northern member states of the EU but also non-member states such as Norway or Russia, as well as the Baltic States originally. The need for the EU's intervention can thus become clearer if one keeps in mind the notion of a political “experiment” for which it stands in the relations between the European Union and Russia. It seems thus interesting to consider the role played by the European Union in the region through its efforts to establish an environmental cooperation, covering particularly the problems of North –west Russia in this area.

Extraits

[...] The need for another cooperation programme, framed within the EU policy this time, appears thus questionable. What is more, the Northern Dimension, or ND, and especially its environmental concerns, involves not only some northern member states of the EU but also non-member states such as Norway or Russia, as well as the Baltic States originally. The need for the EU's intervention can thus become clearer if one keeps in mind the notion of a political “experiment” for which it stands in the relations between the European Union and Russia. [...]

[...] European Commission Annual Progress Report on the Implementation of theNorthern Dimension Action Plan p.24. www.ndep.org. ibid. Lannon, Van Elsuwege, 2001.p.31. [www.document]. ibid. [...]

[...] The Environmental Partnership is exemplary on the matter. Indeed, it has a geographical and sector focus that carries forward the Baltic Sea Environment Programme about environmental spots” with regional cross- border effects. On the nuclear issue, the Partnership uses the work done by the Contact Expert Group of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an international specialist forum for consultation for nuclear waste management in Russia.[10] The Northern Dimension is innovative in this sense that the European Union is using partnerships and expertise of other organisations in order to gain more efficiency, and promoting thus some kind of regionalisation. [...]

[...] The European North: Historical Geopolitics and International Institutional Dynamics Contents Introduction 1. The European Union's Northern Dimension Initiative 1. Concerns in the European North area 2. The Environmental Partnership as an innovative venture 2. The European Union's leading role in the environmental issues in the region 2.1 The Northern Dimension's Action Plans I and II 2.2 The Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership 2.3 Reality of the Partnership? 3. The effectiveness and future perspectives of the Environmental Northern Dimension 3.1 The effectiveness of the Northern Dimension's environmental cooperation. [...]

[...] European Commission Communication, A Northern Dimension for the policies of the Union (98)589 final, Brussels p.5. ibid. www.ndep.org www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/north_dim/ Council of the European Union Action Plan for the Northern Dimension with external and cross-border policies of the European Union 2000-2003, Brussels June 2000.pp16-18. Commission working document, The Second Northern Dimension Action Plan, 2004-2006, COM(2003) 343 final, Brussels .2003.pp.8-10. www.ndep.org/ www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/north_dim Council of the European Union, Full Report on Northern Dimension Policies, 9804/01, Brussels June 2001,p.13. Lannon, Van Elsuwege, 2001.p.30. [www.document]. [...]