The European Commission organises a series of stakeholder workshops on the further development of the EU's Arctic policy. The first event will take place in Rovaniemi on 29 April 2015 and will bring together key stakeholders from business, academia and the public sector to discuss indigenous peoples' rights, regional cooperation, infrastructure development and mining. The second event will take place in Oslo on 27 May 2015 and will focus on issues such as energy, climate change and research.
The workshops follow from a public consultation on "Streamlining EU funding in the European Arctic" in order to identify the main challenges and common investment priorities for the European Arctic. Based on its results, the European Commission is organising a series of workshops to further explore the main issues brought forward by stakeholders. The replies to the consultation can be found here.
As climate change and economic development accelerate in the Arctic region, the EU intends to step up its engagement with its Arctic partners to jointly meet the challenge of safeguarding the environment while ensuring the sustainable development of the Arctic region. In May 2014, the Council instructed the Commission and the EEAS to present proposals for the further development of a coherent and integrated Arctic policy by December 2015.
More detailed information and options for registration will follow shortly