The EU Arctic policy and its critique: a view under Tocci's theory on foreign policy and normative power (Part 1)

• Author: M. Elvira Méndez-Pinedo, Alesia Fralova
• Pages: 344-362

The EU Arctic policy and its critique: a view under Tocci´s theory

on foreign policy and normative power (Part 1)

Professor M. Elvira MÉNDEZ-PINEDO1

Legum magister Alesia FRALOVA2

Abstract

What is the role of the European Union (EU) in the Arctic region? On what basis

does it claim influence and/or authority (if any) over part of this vast area of the world?

What can we learn about EU Arctic policy, tools and instruments adopted so far? Is the EU

a normative foreign policy actor as described by Tocci´s theory? What factors do influence

the adoption and validity of EU policies in this region? This study tries to reply to all these

questions casting a light over an area of great geostra tegic importance and at the

crossroads of historic developments. In a first part we study the current EU Arctic policy

and assess its strength an d weaknesses according to literature. In a second part we

summarize Tocci´s theory on kinds of normative policy actors and examine what kind of

power is the EU exercising in the region.

Keywords: Arctic, EU policy, normative foreign policies, Tocci´s theory

JEL Classification: K32, K33

1. Introduction

Global interest in the Arctic has grown in the last decade. The situation in

the region is a good example of how economic globalization (or even “de-

globalization”3) and climate change affects geopolitics; moreover, it is a vivid

example of how rapidly the modern world is changing. Peripheral in the context of

world politics, this region has -literally before our eyes- turned into one of the main

objects of increased attention for its potential and geostrategic importance. Here, in

the northernmost point of the planet, as in no other region, the geopolitical and

economic interests of the world's leading powers collide in the most concentrated

form. In fact, due to new climatic conditions, the Arctic has turned into a global

issue, with clashing political interests of the main powers. Furthermore, this

transformation has brought a wide array of challenges to the existing legal

structures functioning in the region.4

1 M. Elvira Méndez-Pinedo - Professor of European law, Faculty of Law, University of Iceland,

mep@hi.is.

2 Alesia Fralova - LL.M. Natural Resources and International Environmental Law, Faculty of Law,

University of Iceland, www.alexia.by@gmail.com.

3 See Postelnicu, C., Dinu, V., & Dabija, D. C. (2015), Economic deglobalization–from hypothesis to

reality, „Ekonomie a Management (E&M)/Economics and Management”, Vo l 18, no. 2, pp.4-14,

p. 4.

4 See topical issues related to Arctic law at the Thematic Network online htt ps://www.uarctic.org/

organization/thematic-networks/arctic-law/.

Juridical Tribune Volume 9, Issue 2, June 2019 345

With the unprecedented rapid melting of the Arctic ice there is no doubt

today that it is impossible to “close” this part of the world again. One of the most

important reasons for international cooperation is the complexity of natural

conditions that hampers its individual economic development. In most cases, any

future development of international law requires the unification of other multiple

resources - financial, technological, scientific and organizational. In fact, this is an

important incentive to consolidate and expand joint activities. But not only, interest

in the region has also reached the international civil society. Every year, the Arctic

Circle Assembly5 gathers a great number of State actors and other participants from

all over the world.

The opening of the Arctic Region has seen the emergency of a new system

of Arctic governance where “[a]n extensive international legal framework applies

to the Arctic Ocean”.6 In contrast to the Antarctic which is Earth´s southernmost

non-inhabited continent governed by the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), Arctic

law is generally recognized as a complex matrix of fragmented international and

regional regulations combined with the historically established national legislation

of the most important “Arctic five” states (since different countries have

sovereignty and jurisdiction over parts of this vast territory.7

However, at the moment, the international legal status of the Arctic has not

been finally settled. We do not find a proper widely accepted legal definition of the

Arctic Region and no single international treaty exists which determines the

unique/unified legal regime of this territory. In the system of Arctic governance, it

is now widely accepted that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea8

(UNCLOS) is fully applicable to the seas and that the Arctic Council9 (AC) is the

5 The annual Arctic Circle Assembly, founded by former President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar

Grímsson, is the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic. In 2018 it was attended by

more than 2000 participants from 60 countries. The Assembly is held every October in Reykjavík,

Iceland. It is attended by top level politicians or State actors (heads of states and governments,

ministers, members of parliaments, officials) and by non-State actors or civilians acting

individually or organised in NGOs (experts, scientists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, indigenous

representatives, environmentalists, students, activists and others). All in all, this assembly h as

grown into an international community of partners and participants interested in the future of the

Arctic.

6 The Ilulissat Declaration in May 2008 committed the Arctic Five to the existing legal framework

(namely UNCLOS) and the orderly settlement of any possible overlapping claims.

7 “The Arctic Five” is the group o f five states that border the Arctic Ocean, namely Canada,

Denmark/Greenland, Norway, Ru ssia and the United States. These countries initiated cooperation

in the 70´s and negotiated the first Arctic-specific treaty already in 1973 (Agreement on the

Conservation of Polar Bears). However, due to the Cold War and a general lack of recognition of

the Arctic as a political region in its own right, this cooperation did not continue formally.

8 Signed on 10 December 1982 at Montego Bay (Jamaica). It became effective in 1994 and it counts

more than 150 signatory countries in 2018.

9 The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that gathers together Arctic

governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic region to discuss common issues and concerns

together. Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States are

the eight countries with sovereignty and jurisdiction over the territories situated within the Arctic

Circle. There are some observer states.