"The Baltic Sea Region can influence the future of the EU"
Halldór Ásgrímsson, the Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers and Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, the Chairperson of the Baltic Development Forum are calling for closer partnerships between the countries around the Baltic. In a joint opinion piece published in newspapers in several countries, they identify tangible examples of areas in which multilateral co-operation ought to be improved in the wake of the financial and economic crisis.
- Photographer
- Johannes Jansson
Competitiveness ought to be strengthened, innovation capacity developed, market integration improved and we need to be better equipped to face global crises, they write in their article. Ásgrímsson and Ellemann-Jensen also commented on the proposal for Nordic-Baltic representation at the G20.
"The Nordic countries and the other states in the Baltic Sea Region must shape their future together. Roughly a fifth of the population of the EU lives in the vicinity of the Baltic, so developments in this part of the continent will have a significant impact on the future of the Union as a whole. Baltic leaders must be afforded the opportunity to provide input when major decisions are being taken. Of course, this can be done through the EU, but the interests of the Baltic Sea Region also need to be looked after in a wider international context, a debate made topical by the proposal from the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre, for Nordic–Baltic representation at the G20," the two statesmen wrote at the start of their article.
The Nordic Council of Ministers, which devotes considerable energy to the development of the Baltic Sea Region, has put considerable effort into framing the Baltic Sea Strategy, which is expected to be adopted by the European Council at its meeting in October. The strategy will have a major influence on welfare, accessibility, and social and national security across the whole Baltic Sea Region. Ásgrímsson and Ellemann-Jensen think that the strategy may well be able to serve as model for other regions in the EU.
The article was published to mark the 11th Baltic Development Forum Summit, at Stockholmsmässan.
See and hear comments by the Prime Minister of Sweden and current President of the EU, Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Prime Minister of Finland, Matti Vanhanen, and the Prime Minister of Latvia, Valdis Dombrivskis, about Nordic co-operation and the development of Baltic Sea Region as a whole.
See and listen to more comments about the development of the Baltic Sea Region.
The Nordic Council of Ministers has published a 'State of the Region' Report in conjunction with the Baltic Development Forum Summit. The author Christian Ketels was one of the keynote speakers at the conference. See and hear him here.
