Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung

Regionale und kommunale Kooperation in Europa

Zusammenarbeit im Zeichen einer Philosophie des arktischen Nordens Die Barentsregion und ihre globale Bedeutung

Lisbeth Weihe-Lindeborg

S. 513-530

With its rich natural resources (oil, gas, minerals, forests) the Barents Euro Arctic Region (BEAR) in the Arctic North is of global importance. Founded at Kirkenes 1993 by the Foreign Ministers of the four states involved in the cooperation, the Barents Region now has 13 member regions (three in Norway, two in Sweden, three in Finland and five in Russia) with a population of not quite 6 million people and the only native population in the EU (Sami, Nenets, Veps and Pomors). After the fall of the Iron Curtain the very old ties between the people at the North Pole could again be revived. Under the umbrella of the BEAC (Barents Euro Arctic Council) on the ministerial level, the Regional Council (BRC) with representatives from the regions started off a cooperation on the people-to-people level channelled through 16 permanent working groups as well as through temporary task force- and ad-hoc-groups which has been so far quite successful. Beginning with a cooperation in arts and culture in order to further a common peripheral identity based on an existent philosophy of the Arctic North the cooperation has evolved and developed and is now encompassing virtually all wakes of life and society. Among the issues being studied in the paper are, which political conditions and administrative circumstances determine the pace of work, which the fields of cooperation are, which the problems and conflicts are to be dealt with as well as results and successes. Thus it could be concluded that a continuing regionalisation process is necessary in order to get the most out of the either bi- or multilaterally functioning cooperation, which is also including local authorities and actors. The cooperation is mainly financed by the four states and by scandinavian authorities but the support from the EU is as important. An EU-angle to the cooperation was the introducing in 1999 of its Nordic Dimension-project. Important fields of cooperation are energy issues and sustainable development. In the extremely fragile environment of the Arctic, the radio active and other kinds of toxic pollution set off the urgent task to try to clean up the area  especially in the russian Regions. With the coming of the oil- and gasindustry other environmental hazards have to be dealt with, for example how to make compatible partners of oil and fish. Other fields of cooperation include economy and infrastructure projects in order to get rid of the sole north-south emphasis by adding new east-west-structures. A thrilling project is the revival of the maritime North East Passage. The capability of the Barents region to work in a result orientated way at the same time tackling problems and conflicts in a pragmatic fashion makes it a model for successful cooperation.

Zitiervorschlag für diesen Artikel:
Weihe-Lindeborg, Lisbeth 2006: Zusammenarbeit im Zeichen einer Philosophie des arktischen Nordens Die Barentsregion und ihre globale Bedeutung, in: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung (Hrsg.): Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2006. Föderalismus, Subsidiarität und Regionen in Europa, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, S. 513-530.