San Francisco Frontiers - EU unveils strategy to boost Arctic presence

From critical raw materials to icebreakers and undersea cables, the bloc wants to up its presence in the geopolitical battleground, according to a draft of its new "strategy for the Arctic" seen by AFP.

"The new reality in the Arctic requires Europe to be a strong and reliable partner. That is precisely what we aim to achieve with our new strategy," said Jozef Sikela, the EU's head of international partnerships.

"It addresses the region's most pressing challenges, from accelerating climate change to growing security and geopolitical tensions, and sets out how Europe should respond."

Competition is on the rise in the Arctic as global warming causes sea ice to melt. Countries such as Russia, China and the United States have been ramping up activity, racing to claim natural resources and new maritime routes.

With three Arctic nations among its 27 members -- Denmark, Finland and Sweden -- the European Union has skin in the game.

And President Donald Trump's repeated threats to bring Greenland -- a vast, autonomous Danish territory -- under US control have rattled Europe.

Given that what happens in the far north also has repercussions further south, the strategy, which is to be presented by the EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, aims to set out a common EU approach to the region.

The draft seen by AFP stresses the need to cooperation with "like-minded" non-EU nations, such as Canada, Britain and Norway, and envisages a regular summit of "Northern Neighbourhood" partners.

- What about the US? -

Only recently a key ally in the region, the United States is listed among those who could participate, but the country is otherwise more noticeable for its absence from the remainder of the document.

While Trump's tone has cooled since the beginning of the year, eventually leading to the signing of a security deal with Greenland and Denmark, many in Europe remain wary.

The United States is named only a handful of times in the 20-page paper, compared with almost two dozen mentions for Canada.

Some of the initiatives listed in the strategy seemingly aim to cut dependencies on Washington.

According to the draft, Brussels is planning a "sovereign and secure" submarine cable to connect Greenland with the EU's mainland as part of a broader "Pan-Arctic" cable project also linking Canada, Japan and South Korea.

The bloc is also working to provide satellite connectivity in the Arctic through satellite constellation project IRIS², which aims to rival Elon Musk's Starlink.

How to counter an aggressive Russia is also top of mind, with the document pointing to hybrid threats such as "drone incursions" and the sabotage of undersea cables.

The strategy envisages better data-sharing to monitor Moscow's so-called "shadow fleet" of sanctions-busting oil tankers.

And it stresses the importance of boosting Europe's icebreaker fleet, saying Brussels will develop options for joint procurement, pooling and sharing of polar vessels with allies.

Investments in renewable energy and critical raw material projects are also foreseen, among a series of other plans.

K.Torres--SFF