Baltic Europe Consultations -loppuseminaari

Turku
To 11.6.-12.6.2009 klo 10:00 - 15:30

Paikka
Turun yliopiston Calonia-rakennus , Vänrikinkatu 2, luentosali Cal3

Summary of the Seminar

Day 1 June 11th     Theme: Energy

The seminar started with the opening word of the secretary general of the European Movement in Finland Mr. Arto Aniluoto. After this project secretary Mr. Timmy Trümpler briefly summarized the objectives and the future action of the Baltic Europe Consultations project. The project will be concluded until the end of July 2009. Before that the results of the project will be made public in an 8-page leaflet, which will be disseminated for example among the members of the European parliament.

Mr. Björn Grönholm, presented the audience an overview of the current political situation around the Baltic Sea. The States around the Baltic Sea have a long common history and they share a quite similar culture. The problems of the different states differ though. There is for example a gap in the living standards between the Scandinavian countries and the former Soviet bloc countries. Nowadays there is a lot of regional cooperation in the area organised by several non governmental and intergovernmental actors. The most important challenges the area faces are the aging of the population, inefficient energy consumption and the availability of energy and the environmental state of the Baltic Sea. The Union of the Baltic Cities is trying to tackle these issues for example by creating more integrated management for the cities in the Baltic region.

Ms. Ulla Ropponen, presented a summary of the Commissions proposal for the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. The reasons for a Baltic Sea Strategy being prepared are for example the ecological situation of the Baltic Sea, uneven economical development around the Baltic Sea, shortcomings in safety and security and insufficient energy transmission and supply networks. The EU has taken this task because the EU is already having several development programmes in the region and because the EU is a respected independent actor of which the most states in the Baltic region are members. The strategy will include four fields of action: environment, economy, accessibility and attractiveness and safety and security. On the European level the concrete actions include for example implementation of flagship project, the better use of existing funding and a better coordination on practical matters between all countries in the region. The next step in adopting the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea is the approval of the Strategy by the member states and the European Parliament by the end of 2009. The implementation of actions will start as soon as possible after that.

Mr. Arto Aniluoto was the chairperson of the panel debate on energy.

Mr. Riku Eskelinen was representing the views of environmental associations. In his view the most serious problem in the field of energy in the Baltic Sea region are the co2 emissions. The emissions have to be cut down. Nuclear power is not an acceptable solution, and the Nordstream gas pipeline is not really needed. He didn’t believe either in the possibility to find solutions to climate and environmental problems in national politics. According to him it is urgent, that the consumers decide for clean energy and energy saving.

Mr. Jarkko Heinonen brought up the needs of the economy and industry. He pointed out the necessity for having an adequate supply of energy to keep the prices low and to have enough energy to feed the economical growth. Therefore it is necessary to keep the energy supply as diverse as possible. He saw the Nordstream gas pipeline and the building of more nuclear power as necessary tools for securing the accessibility to cheap energy.

Mr. Peeter Vahtra put in the panel discussion a lot of stress on the current trends on the energy market. According to him the European dependency on Russian gas will continue for the next decades, because there are no serious alternatives. At the moment there is no suitable substitute for gas and no other supplier than Russia in sight. It is probable that gas will remain also as a political tool for Russia.   

Day 2 June 12th        Theme: Security

The second day was initiated with a speech by Mr. Marko Lehti. He presented us an overview to the political situation on security matters in the Baltic Sea region. In the Baltic Sea area there is a divide between the Baltic states and the Scandinavian states in how security is comprehended. The Scandinavian countries tend to focus on soft security matters whereby the Baltic states, Poland and Russia tend to emphasize military security. The big question is: why the peaceful change in the 1990’s hasn’t led to peaceful expectations in 2009? According to Marko Lehti there are three reasons for this: the different views on the Soviet era history, which for example have led to the bronze soldier incident in Estonia in 2007, the NATO memberships of the Baltic States and Poland and the Russian - Georgian war in 2008, which led to a feeling of insecurity in the Baltic States.  

Workshop discussions

On both days there were workshop discussions on energy and security respectively. The chairpersons of the two workshops were secretary general of the European Movement in Denmark Ms. Rina Valeur Rasmussen and secretary general of the European Movement in Estonia Ms. Kristiina Ling.

The workshops began with a confidence vote on the preliminary policy recommendations, which are visible on the webpage http://www.balticeurope.eu/en/project/2/18/ Out of twenty four original recommendations fifteen were accepted for further development. In the discussions there were many differing opinions shared. They showed, that even if there is a widespread consensus about the problems in the Baltic Sea region, the opinions about the reasons and possible solutions to these, differ among different countries. The following is a brief summarization of the discussions.

In the discussions about energy the participants viewed climate change as a fact, to which the EU has to respond. Nuclear power as a solution on a way to carbon neutral energy was rejected. Instead the 20-20-20 climate goals should be reached by investments into energy technology research and energy saving. A higher level of energy security should be reached by more transparency in energy trade and a more liberal electricity market within the EU.

In the discussions about security the most important matter was the EU - Russia relationship. More confidence building measures especially in the Baltic Sea region are being requested. The importance of environmental security was also stressed very much.

On the second day there was a concluding discussion about the results of the workshop groups. The formulations were reviewed and approved with a final confidence vote. All of the 15 final recommendations passed the final confidence vote.

The final policy recommendations will be made public on the website www.balticeurope.eu at the same time, when the project publication is ready by the end of July 2009.




BALTIC EUROPE CONSULTATIONS FINAL SEMINAR PROGRAM
Turku University, Calonia building (address Vänrikinkatu 2), Finland, June 11-12th 2009,
First day June 11th
Theme: Energy

Arrival of participants

10.00-11.00		Registration
11.00		"Baltic questions at the European level" Björn Grönholm, Head of Secretariat at the Union of the Baltic Cities Commission of Environment "EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region" Ulla Ropponen, Programme Manager, European Commission DG Regional Policy
12.00		Panel discussion: The challenges of the Baltic Sea countries in energy politics Riku Eskelinen, Coordinator for ecological energy, The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation Jarkko Heinonen, Assistant manager, Turku Chamber of Commerce Peeter Vahtra, Research Fellow, Pan European Institute, Turku School of Economics
13.30		Lunch
14.30		Workshop session about energy
18-20		Reception by the City of Turku in Turku City Hall (address Aurakatu 2)
June 12th
Theme:		Security
9.30		"Security questions in the Baltic Area" Dr Marko Lehti, Adj. Professor, Turku University Baltic Sea Region Studies; Senior Research Fellow, Tampere Peace Research Institute          Workshop session
12.30		Lunch
13.30		Concluding session: The chairpersons of the workshops present the results of the two workshops Discussion
15.30		Conclusion of the seminar

Baltic Europe Consultations

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