The bloc's 27 EU affairs ministers met with representatives of the Commission, the Parliament and the European Investment Bank last week (17–18 September) to discuss the Union's Baltic Sea Strategy.
The strategy, launched this summer and supported by the Swedish EU Presidency, aims to make better use of existing resources to tackle issues ranging from maritime surveillance to increasing regional competitiveness.
Ministers discussed using the Baltic Sea Strategy as a model for future cooperation on similar macro-regional strategies in the EU.
EU Regional Policy Commissioner Paweł Samecki underlined that the strategy is a "new animal" in the EU, and expressed hope that the "new modern way to coordinate EU policies in the region" could be transformed or modified for other European regions.
European Parliament Vice-President Diana Wallis (UK, ALDE) added that the Baltic strategy "gives momentum" for developing similar policies for the Danube region and possibly even for the Adriatic. Indeed, the Commission is planning to present a Danube macroregional strategy in 2010.
Russia involved in some projects
Eight of the nine countries on the Baltic Sea are in the EU: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany. The ninth is Russia.
Responding to journalists' questions about the feasibility of meaningful projects on the Baltic without a Russian commitment to environmental protection. Swedish EU Affairs Minister Cecilia Malmström said that while the strategy is an internal EU strategy, "Russia is a neighbour and some of the projects will involve Russia".
She listed the environment and maritime security as key areas in which Russia could get involved with projects.
