Nauwere samenwerking tussen Baltische staten (en)

“My dream is of a clean sea and flourishing trade and commerce,” says State Secretary Maria Åsenius. She has great hopes for the EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy, which is due for adoption during the Swedish Presidency. The strategy aims to strengthen the competitiveness of the Baltic rim countries, combat human trafficking and save Europe’s largest inland sea from environmental collapse.

Seas and waterways have linked people together since time immemorial. During the Middle Ages, the Baltic Sea was a sort of marine motorway, and trade in the region flourished. Then came the Cold War and the Iron Curtain split the sea down the middle. It is now 20 years since the Berlin Wall collapsed and five years since the EU’s eastward enlargement, following which eight of the nine Baltic countries are now Member States.

Maria Åsenius has been State Secretary under Sweden’s Minister for EU Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, since the autumn of 2008, and coordinates the work on the EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy in Sweden. She feels it is high time the region was restored to its former glory.

Back in December 2007, the EU’s heads of state and government called on the European Commission to draw up a strategy for the Baltic Sea region. In June 2009, the Commission presented its proposals.

“This is a completely new cooperation model,” says Maria Åsenius. “It differs from everything that has gone before and it’s distinctly tradeoriented.”

In September, a ministerial conference on the Baltic Sea Strategy will be held in Stockholm, and a few weeks later the EU heads of state and government are due to adopt the strategy. Then, says Maria Åsenius, the hope is that the countries and organisations responsible for the strategy will implement the concrete action plan.

The Baltic Sea region as a good example

So what kinds of results is she hoping for? She lists three objectives: that the Baltic Sea will become cleaner, that the internal market will work better and that the region will be made safer by stepping up police cooperation and fighting human trafficking.

“When the European Commission has now presented its proposals, we can’t just sit back and say, well, that was a neat piece of work – we have to go into action together,” she says.

But can the Baltic Sea Strategy be of any interest to the other 19 EU Member States? Maria Åsenius takes the view that a macro-regional approach benefits the European Union as a whole. She offers an example:

“A Portuguese investor wishing to do business in the region shouldn’t have to keep track of the regulations in eight different countries. We must agree on a common application of Community law.

“And it would be fantastic if the Baltic Sea region were to become a model for other regions to follow – to be able to say that it’s here the internal market works best, it’s here that the new Lisbon strategy for growth and employment has made the greatest progress. I think this could be an incredibly exciting and dynamic development. And it’s even more important in light of the financial crisis. Everyone stands to gain from integrating economies more closely.”

The idea is that the same model could be applied to other regions as well. Maria Åsenius says the Austrian government is keeping a close watch on the EU’s Baltic Sea strategy to see if something similar could be introduced in the Donau region. What about Russia, the ninth Baltic country? Both St. Petersburg and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad adjoin the Baltic Sea, yet they are not part of the scheme.

“They’re being kept informed of our plans. We’ll be inviting them to cooperate on certain issues, but basically this is an internal EU strategy,” says Maria Åsenius.

Exceptionally sensitive sea

Personally, she prefers to bathe on the Swedish west coast in summertime, but she is very upset that the water in the Baltic is in such poor condition that people have had to get used to swimming in algal bloom grunge. And this sea is very sensitive – water replacement takes 30 years.

“Every day, some 2 500 ships cross the Baltic, and many of them are transporting oil or liquid gas,” says Maria Åsenius. “If we can coordinate this shipping better, we think we can make the Baltic safer from an environmental viewpoint, too.”

It is clear that she really cares about the region’s future. What does she think this partnership will look like in ten years’ time?

“I’ll be satisfied when we have a clean sea without algal blooming, and business is thriving in the region. In ten years’ time I hope we’ll have got much closer to that goal.”