Like-minded leaders met in Rovaniemi to seek stability and return to rule of law

Rovaniemi, the northernmost city in Finland, likes to brand itself as the Arctic capital. In mid-September, on a sunny and fresh Monday, it seemed that this branding had led to some results. Black cars and flashing blue lights blocked traffic as a group of European heads of state or government moved around during the European Arctic Summit, an initiative by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.

This was not an Arctic summit in the sense that all the participants would have been from the Arctic. An Arctic Summit is something that former Finnish president Sauli Niinistö tried to achieve for quite some time a decade ago, but he could never make it happen. It would have been a gathering of the heads of state of all eight Arctic countries, under the Arctic Council umbrella. This effort was before Russia started its war against Ukraine. Even so, the idea was far from feasible.

But this time Finland had invited a European Arctic Summit aiming to raise both Finnish and the EU’s Arctic profile and to offer a platform for discussing once more the Arctic security troubles. Participants included leaders from Germany, Denmark, all three Baltic states, and Romania. The French foreign minister and leading foreign policy figures from EU institutions also took part. Sweden was having elections on the very same day and could not attend on a political level; non-EU prime ministers from Iceland and Norway came for Sunday dinner.

Besides countries that were present, the summit statement was also signed by Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. Thus, this Arctic combination includes Nordic and Baltic countries, along with the major European powers. It is a powerful combination for future Arctic developments.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb was present at Sunday’s dinner, but the actual summit was hosted by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. According to the somewhat complicated division of powers in Finland, EU affairs are the responsibility of the Prime Minister while the president is in charge of foreign policy.

Parliamentary elections will be held in Finland in April. This means that the life cycle of the current government is coming to an end and tensions between the parties are already rising to the surface. Prime Minister Orpo does not have a strong track record on EU policy initiatives. That is even more the case when it comes to Arctic policy initiatives. Orpo’s government is the first in Finland for a long time to have nothing about the Arctic in its program apart from some words related to the Arctic and NATO.

Now, however, the Arctic was the tool that Orpo used to get a collection of European leaders to Rovaniemi, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen. The latter has risen to personify resistance to U.S. President Donald Trump’s intentions for Greenland.

Promoting Finnish interests

Finland had her own interests at the meeting, of course, aside from the ongoing Arctic security worries. Finland is currently constructing Arctic icebreakers for the U.S., and Prime Minister Orpo has proposed that a new production line is opened: Finland could also build them for the European Union. The idea seemed to get some support in Rovaniemi. However, promoting Finnish interests would now make European leaders come and have an Arctic summit.

The European Union has been preparing its Joint Communication on a Resilient, Secure and Peaceful Arctic for a long time, but it won’t be published until October at the earliest. The keywords of the Rovaniemi statement included — along with everything related to the security threats and responses to them — critical raw materials, space technologies, Arctic and intercontinental shipping, connectivity and tourism. All this relates to reinforcing the EU’s position in the Arctic and promoting its economic opportunities.

But what kind of European Arctic is now being built? Much depends on Europe’s position in the Arctic, and that position is about to change.

Politically, this was a meeting of like-minded countries talking about the Arctic in a like-minded way. It seems that the region is about to have three groups of countries: Russia and China, the U.S., and the “like-minded” ones that make up the rest. In a press conference, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz listed the countries that he hopes the EU will cooperate more closely with in the Arctic: Iceland, Norway, Canada and the UK. To underline the EU-Canada connection, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney toured the EU institutions soon after the European Arctic Summit.

At the EU Arctic Forum in Brussels early September, Finland’s former prime minister and EU commissioner Jyrki Katainen defined what such a group of countries would contribute to the Arctic: the rule of law and stability. Also, the Rovaniemi statement speaks about like-minded partners, common values and rule-based governance.

That grouping is now taking its first steps in the Arctic. It is tempting to conclude that this leaves the U.S. as a military partner for European NATO allies in the Arctic, but not as a partner when it comes to the rule of law and common values. Together with Canada, European countries are now seeking their own common role in the Arctic. New developments are likely to follow.

Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Arctic Today.

Markku Heikkilä is the Head of Science Communications at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, in Rovaniemi. As a former journalist in the Kaleva newspaper in Oulu, Heikkilä has followed Arctic cooperation from its early stages, and for this work, he got the State Award for Public Information. He has written several books on these topics, together with articles, columns and essays. Heikkilä’s latest book, Once we had the Arctic – Journeys and Stories from the North, is available in English as an audiobook and e-book.