The Arctic is Europe’s neighbourhood: time to shape its future with our partners
Renew Europe welcomes the new Arctic Strategy presented today by the Commission and the High Representative, which takes up key demands of the European Parliament recommendation led by Renew Europe rapporteur Urmas Paet in November 2025. Faced with the ambitions of Russia, China and the United States, the Arctic must now become a genuine EU priority.
The Arctic is not someone else's frontier: three EU Member States are Arctic nations and more than 500 000 EU citizens live there. Russia is rebuilding its military footprint and multiplying hybrid threats, from drone incursions to the sabotage of undersea cables, while China deepens its partnership with Moscow.
Renew Europe supports the concrete answers put forward: better data-sharing to monitor Russia's shadow fleet, joint procurement, pooling and sharing of icebreakers with allies, a sovereign and secure submarine cable linking Greenland to the EU as part of a Pan-Arctic project towards Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea, Arctic satellite connectivity through IRIS², and investments in renewable energy and critical raw materials.
These efforts must rest on a strong alliance of like-minded partners – Norway, Iceland, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Republic of Korea - and on deeper EU-NATO cooperation. Renew Europe also supports potential EU membership for willing Arctic nations.
Renew Europe will ensure that the priorities of the Paet report are delivered: full EU observer status in the Arctic Council, a strong partnership with Greenland on raw materials and energy, and dedicated funding in the next Multiannual Financial Framework for Arctic shipping, icebreakers and infrastructure.
Above all, the Arctic belongs to those who live there. Renew Europe insists on the sovereignty of its peoples, including the Sámi and the Kalaallit of Greenland, whose future is theirs to decide. There can be no economic, industrial or security development without the inclusion of local populations and the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples.
Renew Europe MEP Urmas Paet (Eesti Reformierakond, Estonia), rapporteur on the EU Arctic report, stated:
"For the past 11 years, I have advocated in the European Parliament for the EU to turn its attention to the Arctic region and to recognize that Russia’s actions - such as the militarization of its Arctic territories and the war against Ukraine - demand our attention and action in the Arctic as well."
"It is also necessary to address the growing cooperation between China and Russia, as well as China’s growing strategic interests in the European Arctic. In the past, the EU viewed the Arctic primarily through the lens of environmental issues. However, the current foreign policy reality dictates that our approach must be far more geopolitical - focusing on defense and security, as well as climate change and energy security," he added.
Urmas Paet concluded : "As military, hybrid, and commercial activities intensify in the Arctic, the EU and its Member States must strengthen their capacity to operate effectively in the region - in cooperation with NATO - and invest in shared situational awareness, vigilance, preparedness, and response capabilities.“
Urmas PaetRenew Europe MEP, Estonia, Eesti Reformierakond