Foreign Policy Entrepreneurship - the EU and the development of an Arctic Policy

With the melting of sea ice in the Arctic region, oil- and gas resources are becoming more accessible and new shipping routes are being considered, leading to several states developing their regional interests and stating territorial claims. At the same time, the European Union has embarked on the development of an independent supranational policy for the Arctic region. Arctic nations such as Russia and Canada, and the EU member state Denmark, through Greenland, have all been critical of the EU's interference in a region where its territorial bonds are only through the northern parts of Finland and Sweden. Why then has the EU begun to develop an Arctic Policy? It is argued here that policy development is not due to member-state interests, as traditionally theorized in EU foreign policy-making, but rather a result of the European Commission acting as a policy entrepreneur to secure its own competence and relevance in the domains of foreign policy. By emphasising volatile issues such as environmental problems and weak frameworks for governance, the Commission paints a picture where the EU's competences are needed, thereby securing itself a role in a region that is rapidly becoming significant in world politics.