The European Union – An Arctic Actor?

Authors

  • Andreas Østhagen North Norway European Office and The Arctic Institute

Abstract

Since launching its first Arctic communiqué in 2008, the European Union has strived to be accepted as a legitimate Arctic actor. Yet the EU's symbolic quest towards achieving observer status in the Arctic Council has proved disproportionately long and difficult. Despite starting out with lofty ideals about its Arctic engagement, the EU has been forced to re-adjust and modify its approach to the region. This chapter aims to explain why the EU has engaged in the Arctic in the first place and how it has gone about doing so, while also elaborating on the different contentious issues that has come about as a consequence of this engagement. To do this one must first conceptualise the EU as a foreign policy actor, as a tool for understanding the development of an EU Arctic policy.

Author Biography

Andreas Østhagen, North Norway European Office and The Arctic Institute

A citizen of the Arctic Circle, I am currently employed as an advisor at the North Norway European Office in Brussels, where I am responsible for communicating the interests of the Norwegian Arctic to the European Union. I also serve as a senior fellow at The Arctic Institute, a D.C.-based think tank. I have previously worked on Arctic and security issues at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C. as well as the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation in Toronto. My research is primarily focused on mapping different actors and interests as the Arctic region develops, covering both natural resource exploration and international affairs. I hold a Master of Science (MSc) from the London School of Economics in European and international affairs, in addition to a joint Bachelor degree in political economy from the University of Bergen and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

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Published

2014-01-23

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 2 (2013)

Section

Articles