The EU plans to set up a maritime security center that will monitor ship movements in the Arctic and North Atlantic and pool information from member states.
The expansion of the European icebreaker fleet is also being considered, including financing a nuclear-powered icebreaker to better control ice-covered waters.
The aim of the EU is to integrate Greenland more economically and politically. To this end, it has announced additional investments in renewable energies, critical raw materials and a submarine cable worth an additional 200 million euros.
Regular funding for Greenland is set to increase from 225 million to 530 million euros in the next EU budget in order to increase the EU's strategic presence on the island.
Brussels. The EU wants to monitor the Russian shadow fleet more closely in the Arctic and North Atlantic in the future. To this end, the European Commission is planning to set up a new maritime security center that will record ship movements and pool information from European states.
The center is also intended to warn against acts of sabotage, for example on submarine cables. Cooperation with Greenland should also be expanded. Brussels plans to invest in satellite communications, submarine cables and other strategically important infrastructure on the island.
The projects are part of the new Arctic strategy that the Commission and foreign affairs representative Kaja Kallas presented on Tuesday. The background is the growing military presence of Russia, China and the USA in the region as well as the increasing geopolitical competition for the far north.
“European Arctic policy must take this changed geopolitical situation into account,” says the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament, David McAllister (CDU). The new strategy is therefore overdue.
Unlike the previous 2021 strategy, which focused primarily on climate change and environmental protection, the EU is now focusing on security and cooperation with Greenland. In order to become more capable of acting in the increasingly contested waters of the far north, the Union also wants to expand its icebreaker fleet.
The Commission is proposing several options to the Member States: They could jointly procure new icebreakers, merge their existing fleets or make ships available to each other, as the EU already does with fire-fighting aircraft.
In order to reach the waters with the thickest layers of ice and open up transport routes, the Commission is also considering financing Europe's first nuclear-powered icebreaker, like the one Russia already operates. How much money the EU will provide for the expansion is still unclear. The Commission wants to mobilize funds for this from the next EU budget, which the member states are still negotiating.
The EU is relying on better monitoring of shipping routes in the fight against Russian acts of sabotage. A new monitoring center should ensure this. A better situation picture is important in order to protect endangered infrastructure. Existing initiatives for cable protection in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean serve as a model.
The center should be run by one or more member states and equipped so that it can also unmask oil tankers from the so-called shadow fleet. It could also support authorities in the fight against illegal fishing and environmental pollution. However, a senior EU official acknowledged that member states still need to negotiate precise jurisdiction, geographical scope and funding.
In addition, the Europeans want to improve their ability to operate in the ice-covered waters of the Arctic. To this end, European icebreaking capacity is to be expanded in order to keep trade routes open, enable military transport, monitor waters and repair damaged submarine cables. Finland, whose shipyards are world leaders in the construction of icebreakers, will play a central role in this.
Greenland is particularly important to the EU. In response to Donald Trump's attempts to annex the island, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a European investment offensive there in September. The largely autonomous island belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, but is not a member of the European Union. The US government had repeatedly claimed ownership of Greenland.
The Europeans now want to strengthen their economic and political presence on the strategically important island. The Commission has announced additional investments of 200 million euros for this purpose. The money will flow into, among other things, renewable energies, critical raw materials and a new undersea cable that connects Greenland directly to Europe. In the next EU budget, the Commission wants to increase the regular funding for Greenland from 225 million to 530 million euros.
