Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-03-10-Speech-3-318"
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"en.20100310.22.3-318"2
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"Mr President, I welcome very much the opportunity to discuss with you what I believe is an evolving Arctic policy in the European Union. It is a serious issue of growing political importance and I believe we have to treat it as such.
As you know, this is also the view of the Council. We very much want to maintain close cooperation with the European Parliament as we pursue our common goals of gradually building up an EU Arctic policy and we must work together with the Arctic states and the international community to find the most effective way of preserving and protecting the Arctic for future generations.
In the aftermath of the Copenhagen negotiations, it is right that we pay increasing attention to that part of the world which has been witnessing the most tangible effects of climate change. Scientific evidence shows that the ice caps lost more than half of their thickness over the last decade.
Other environmental changes are also having a growing impact on the Arctic’s people, biodiversity and landscape, both on land and at sea. Like other international actors, we have been increasingly active on Arctic issues. As you know, the Commission published its Arctic Communication in late 2008, which was welcomed by the Council, and that was followed in December 2009 by extensive conclusions on Arctic issues.
I believe this represents another step in the process to gradually building up a coherent, comprehensive Arctic policy. As you know, the Commission has been asked to prepare a follow-up report in June 2011, and that will be another opportunity to further develop our thinking together. All this work is in progress, and that is why I am very eager today to hear the views of Members of this House.
In this context, the Commission appreciated your resolution on Arctic governance of October 2008, which provided good impetus in the last stages of the Commission’s drafting of the communication. We seek support from Parliament for our efforts to ensure the European Union is recognised as a responsible and respected player in the Arctic. Our geographical position and our ongoing programmes in the Arctic are our starting point, but we want to develop this further.
There are three main areas for the work which I would like to mention very briefly. First we want to contribute to the protection of the Arctic region, including its population. The Arctic’s ecosystem is very fragile and therefore needs maximum protection and safeguards. At the same time, because of climate change, the resources of the Arctic are becoming increasingly accessible. That offers opportunities, but must be handled with great care.
We want to ensure our citizens and companies are treated fairly, including in the areas of transport and natural resources, and that needs to be done in a very deliberate and careful manner with appropriate environmental safeguards. Both objectives can and should be developed jointly by EU institutions and Member States, especially the three Arctic Member States. All should continue to work closely together with other Arctic stakeholders.
Our third objective is to contribute to robust and enhanced governance arrangements to handle the multiple challenges that affect the Arctic region. That includes the implementation of existing agreements, frameworks and arrangements, including the Arctic Council, and full respect for the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas. But, where relevant, we should take a careful look at whether and how these arrangements could be complemented and developed further.
To be credible, we should recognise that the Arctic region is radically different from the Antarctic and this recognition should guide our policy response. Unlike the Antarctic, which is a vast and inhabited continent surrounded by an ocean, the Arctic is a maritime space surrounded by land which has been inhabited by people for thousands of years and which belongs to sovereign countries. Therefore, proposals to replicate the Antarctic Treaty in the Arctic region would be unrealistic, and they would probably also be detrimental to the proactive role that we aim to develop."@en1
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