EU in the Arctic: Soft Power or Overextension?

Feb 17, 2026

Andreas Raspotnik, director at the High North Center and Arctic policy specialist, walks through the EU’s Arctic role. He traces policy history and institutional limits. He discusses critical minerals, Greenland’s strategic weight, and where Brussels’ soft power meets hard security pressures. He argues for treating the European Arctic like a neighborhood with more capacity and practical action.

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INSIGHT

European Arctic Is Europe's Neighborhood

The EU treats the European Arctic as a neighborhood that should be closer to Brussels, not a distant, empty region.
Andreas Raspotnik maps the European Arctic to northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Greenland and urges seeing it as Europe's own backyard.

INSIGHT

EU Arctic Policy Is An Umbrella Of Fragmented Competences

EU Arctic policy is an umbrella across fragmented competences, mixing supranational and member state powers.
Raspotnik stresses fisheries are EU competence while foreign/security remain largely national, complicating coherent action.

ADVICE

Use Regulation And Funding To Shape Arctic Investment

Use EU regulation and funding to create sustainable standards and narratives that attract responsible private investment.
Raspotnik notes Brussels can set sustainability rules and spend more money, but cannot force companies to invest in Greenland or other Arctic mining.

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What is the Arctic for the European Union?

In this episode of What’s New, host Serafima Andreeva speaks with Andreas Raspotnik, Director of the High North Center for Business and Governance and senior researcher affiliated with the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and The Arctic Institute, about the evolution of EU Arctic policy and what Brussels can realistically achieve in a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape.

The conversation traces the EU’s Arctic engagement from the 2008 Joint Communication to the 2021 strategy for a “peaceful, sustainable and prosperous Arctic,” and the ongoing update expected later this year. Raspotnik explains how EU Arctic policy operates as an umbrella over fragmented competences, with fisheries at the supranational level, foreign and security policy largely in member state hands, and growing tensions between climate ambition and geopolitical urgency.

Greenland and critical minerals sit at the heart of the debate. As Europe seeks strategic autonomy and reduced dependency on China and Russia, the Arctic is increasingly viewed as a source of rare earths and other resources central to the green transition. Yet the EU cannot compel companies to invest, nor can it act as a traditional hard power.

The episode also examines the controversies that have shaped EU-Arctic relations, from the seal products ban to proposals for oil and gas moratoria, and asks whether Brussels risks overextension. With security now expected to feature more prominently in the upcoming policy revision, including references to Arctic security debates raised at Arctic Frontiers in Tromsø, the EU faces a structural question: how far can it move into hard security when defence remains a member state competence?

Raspotnik argues for a practical shift. The European Arctic could be treated as a European neighbourhood alongside the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. That would require more institutional capacity in Brussels and a deeper understanding of Arctic societies and economies before regulatory decisions are made.