00:00The EU has unveiled its new Arctic strategy, setting its sights on one of the geopolitical
00:06hotspots of our times. With three states in the Arctic cycle, the European Union has skin in the
00:13game. We talked to the EU Commissioner Josef Sikela to discuss who are the bloc's friends
00:19and foes in the region. Why does the EU need a new Arctic strategy and why does it need it
00:25right now?
00:25Yes, because Arctic is changing very fast and we have to face the Arctic reality. The old
00:32strategy was adopted in 2021 and was very much focused on climate. But with the melting ice,
00:42with the speed of climate change in Arctic, with the disappearing ice and new economic
00:51opportunities and with the geopolitical competition, Europe has very much skin in the game. We have
00:58500,000 people, European family living in the Arctic. We have three member states with significant share
01:07on the Arctic territory. So whatever happens in the Arctic directly affects Europe, climate-wise,
01:15resilience-wise, security-wise, and for the future also when it comes to economic resilience.
01:22You mentioned the geopolitical competition. How do I have to imagine that? And is Europe not
01:29already a little bit too late to start realizing it has skin in the game?
01:35Well, I think we have an excellent partnership with basically close to all members of the Arctic
01:44community. But we have to be frank. The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine was a complete game
01:54changer. The collaboration among the Arctic states is very difficult. We are not getting information about
02:02the permafrost from the biggest spark of the Arctic territory. What is Russia doing in the Arctic is
02:10unprecedented. The catastrophic level of drilling and opening new mines is basically one of the
02:18contributors to this very fast, four times faster climate change in the Arctic. So this is about
02:27adjusting on the reality. And with the new Arctic strategy, with forming the Arctic neighborhood,
02:38with another neighborhood, we simply want to deepen the cooperation with like-minded partner countries.
02:47This is about more cooperation, about cooperation in the new areas like security and defense.
02:55This is about cooperation in the economic areas. But this is about also involvement of the indigenous
03:04people and communities. You talked about the like-minded partners and I studied your new strategy.
03:10And you also talk about the U.S. as a like-minded partner. We have seen a lot of developments
03:15with the
03:15U.S. I mean, of course, the quest or the request of Donald Trump to annex Greenland. Do you really
03:22think
03:23that the U.S. is a like-minded partner of the European Union when it comes to the Arctic?
03:29The U.S. is a very important strategic player in the Arctic. And the U.S. is warmly welcomed to
03:37join us
03:37in our efforts in our efforts to have a more resilient, more prosperous, more stable, but also
03:47more sustainable Arctic. But are they also a like-minded partner of the EU?
03:53I think that we have a joint interest in the Arctic together. As I said, this is about security issues,
04:02about defense. This is about basically dual use of equipment, of projects. So I think there is a
04:18lot of space for like-minded cooperation in this area. The Arctic is also full of raw materials. Has this
04:26not also become a race of the EU, Russia, the United States, but also China to get these raw materials?
04:36This is true. And as I said, with the melting ions, there are new economic opportunities and also
04:44new transport routes. And for example, just taking the example of Greenland, on the Greenland territory,
04:55out of the 34 CRM, there are 25 available. And when you see on the strategic projects coming from the
05:06critical raw material act and initiative, there are out of 106, approximately 18 in the Arctic. So we have
05:17projects in Sweden, in Norway, in Finland. And we have also very promising projects identified in Greenland,
05:30for example, Molybdenum, which is extremely important for digital and for defense. With this project,
05:37we can cover the needs of Europe fully. Do you think this is the raw materials in the Arctic can
05:45be a game
05:45changer for Europe, especially when it comes to dependency from raw materials to China? This is an
05:51alternative. When you are dependent, you have basically two ways how to tackle this. The one is the
05:58own capacity building. So basically to seek for the new resources and to build new capacities. And the
06:08second is a diversification. So diversification with a new trusted, like-minded, reliable partners. And we
06:14want to go both ways. And finally, you mentioned Russia and also the aggressive behavior of Russia
06:21within the Arctic. And this strategy is supposed to be an answer to this. How is the strategy answering
06:28to it? And what are the problems with the Russian behavior in the Arctic Circle?
06:33Well, we see a new increasing threats. The Russian military presence in the Barents Sea and in
06:40Arctis is increasing. But there are basically like a new hybrid threats coming. So what we want to do with
06:48the Arctic strategy is to focus more on the information exchange and the protection of the
06:54civil infrastructure. And for this, we want to basically use also assets and the project with the
07:03dual use. So we need to strengthen the communication between the Arctic like-minded partners. We need to
07:12strengthen the protection of the civil infrastructure. Therefore, we are talking about the Arctic
07:17cable hub and the Arctic maritime security. And this is what is it about.
07:27So there are a lot of projects you're planning to do. NATO is also active in the Arctic. Is it
07:32not
07:33enough what NATO is doing to protect European citizens? NATO will remain basically the center of the defense
07:39and the center of the deterrence. But NATO doesn't have a budget. The member state has. So this is
07:45first about the proper focus and proper use of the resources of the NATO member states, about the
07:52better coordination. And as I mentioned, also about basically using, about the dual use of icebreakers,
08:02of transport routes for both, for civil and also for the defense purposes.
08:09Thank you very much for your time, Commissioner. You're welcome.
