By Hannah Thule, Thomas Nilsen

“The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is gradually withdrawing from Barents Sea cooperation,” says Elina Valtonen, making it clear that the challenges facing the regions of Finland, Sweden and Norway can be addressed through other programmes and cross-border structures.

Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told the Finnish parliament that the aim is to reach consensus with Sweden and Norway on the future of cooperation in the Barents region by 2024.

The Foreign Minister was responding to a question from Social Democratic Party MP Seppo Eskelinen.

The future of Europe’s northernmost cross-border cooperation has been in jeopardy since March 2022, when the Barents Euro-Arctic Council froze all cooperation with Russia over the aggressor’s large-scale war against Ukraine.

The Barents Euro-Arctic Council is the highest governing body of the Barents cooperation and is led by the Foreign Ministers of the Member States.

The cooperation also includes the Barents Regional Council, led by the leaders of the nine Northern Member States of Finland, Sweden and Norway.

To coordinate the work, there is an International Barents Secretariat based in Kirkenes, Norway. There is also a Norwegian Barents Secretariat, owned by the three member states Nordland, Troms and Finnmark.

Other ways to collaborate

Now that Russia is out of the picture, The focus of cooperation in the Barents Sea area shifted to a North-Nordic cooperation between the other Member States Finland, Sweden and Norway.

The new format was highlighted as more important than ever due to the security situation during the Kirkenes Conference in 2023.

However, Valtonen’s message indicates that intergovernmental cooperation, at least in its current form, is coming to an end.

In order to reduce the national debt, the Finnish government is focusing heavily on austerity and structural reforms, which is forcing many ministries to reassess their priorities.

“…due to the budgetary constraints faced by ministries, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is gradually withdrawing from cooperation in the Barents region,” Elina Valtonen said in her response to Parliament.

The Finnish Foreign Minister makes it clear that cooperation between the Scandinavian Member States can also be achieved in other ways than by continuing cooperation around the Barents Sea.

Valtonen also says that the shift to a focus on the Nordic countries removes the need for the coordinating role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Other ways of maintaining close regional cooperation with neighbouring countries are mentioned, for example through forums such as the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Council of Baltic Sea States. European Union funding programmes are another way of receiving support for regional cross-border projects.

Sources close to the Norwegian government have informed the Barents Observer of similar considerations currently being evaluated by Oslo. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already left the national Barents Secretariat and transferred budget expenditures to the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.

Elina Valtonen emphasises that the Finnish government has set up a series of programmes aimed at exploiting the potential of Northern and Eastern Finland.

The Finnish Foreign Minister indicated that the trio presidency of Sweden, Finland and Norway of the Barents Council aims to reach consensus on the future of Barents cooperation in 2024.

From the outset, cooperation within the Barents Sea Region has been organised on a rotation basis between the four Member States.

Helsinki was due to hand over the gavel to Moscow last year, but with Russia sidelined – and a very unclear future – it was decided to establish a joint presidency. Instead of a traditional Barents Council meeting, a event used to be arranged in Joensuu in October last year. For the first time in the 30-year history of the Barentsz cooperation, no ministers participated.

No state funding – no cooperation

Practical regional cooperation is carried out through the Barents Regional Council, the Regional Committee and various thematic working groups. The foreign ministries of the Nordic Member States are responsible for coordination and financing.

In Finland, the participating regions are Oulu, Kainuu, North Karelia and Lapland.

In a letter to Elina Valtonen, obtained by the Barents Observer, the regional mayors state that the Finnish regions will only commit to continuing the Barents cooperation if the government has a strong coordination and financing responsibility. Otherwise, the Barents cooperation at the regional level in Finland will end.

The letter also mentions that the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering withdrawing from the cooperation.

Markus Hirvonen, mayor of North Karelia and current chairman of the Barents Regional Council, says in a telephone interview that funding and coordination is needed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or from another government source.

“If the governments are part of the Barents cooperation, North Karelia will remain active. If they withdraw, we will not have the economic means or resources to continue in the same way.”

Without government intervention, the friendly relationship (between the regions) and some kind of unofficial cooperation will probably continue. But the official cooperation will most likely end, he says.

Hirvonen claims that Finnish regions want the government to be closely involved. This is crucial for facilitating effective cross-border cooperation.

“The regions do not have the mandate to implement, for example, transport and environmental projects that cross national borders. It becomes very difficult without national coordination.”

If government funding stops, the governors and regional mayors of the Nordic member states should discuss possible solutions in the autumn. Maybe we can find a solution, he says.

One of the arguments for withdrawal is that there are other ways for the Nordic countries to cooperate at intergovernmental and interregional level. Do you agree with that?

“There is indeed cooperation between the Nordic countries and different regions, but North Karelia will not have clear structures for cooperation with the North beyond the Barents cooperation.”

“We do not have other cooperation structures for the issues that are central to the Barents cooperation, such as culture, economic cooperation, transport and logistics, and also social and health issues. The situation probably differs from region to region.”

Change of structure

Hirvonen says that if the Barents collaboration is to continue, the structure must be adapted to the new Nordic format. And the name must be changed as well.

There is no longer a need for very formal, top-level committee-like meetings. This was necessary to foster friendly relations with Russia. The Nordic member states could instead focus on achieving the objectives and getting things done, he says.

“In hindsight, we should have started thinking about reforming Barents cooperation without Russia earlier. Instead, we continued in the same way, but with one country less.”

In September 2023, seven months after all cooperation with Russia was frozen, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow decided announced his withdrawal of the Barentsz Council.

Nordic format

At the Kirkenes conference in March 2023, the future for the new Scandinavian format still looked bright.

It was stated that the need for cross-border interaction in the Nordic region is greater than ever due to the security situation.

During the inauguration ceremony, both the Finnish Foreign Minister at the time, Pekka Haavisto, and the Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström assured in their speeches It was announced via video link that both countries are committed to continuing cooperation in the new form.

The Kirkenes Conference is a place to discuss the policy of the High North and the development of the Barents region. It takes place annually in the Norwegian border town of Kirkenes.

Change of tone

However, the tone of the Finnish and Swedish foreign ministers on the future of Barents cooperation changed during the Kirkenes conference in February 2024.

The ministers The speeches, again delivered via video link during the opening ceremony, did not reflect the same commitment to cooperation as the year before.

The current Finnish Foreign Minister, Elina Valtonen, has focused mainly on other ways to move forward.

She raised NATO as a source of stability in the Arctic and stated that Finland “is currently taking stock at national level and within the Trio Presidency of Finland, Sweden and Norway on how to proceed in the Barents Council.”

A similar uncertainty about the Barents cooperation was also expressed in Billström’s speech.

He said: “Sweden is confident that the ongoing discussions on the future of the Barents cooperation, led by the Trio Presidency, will provide a sustainable solution that adds value to the Nordic part of the Barents region.”

Instead of referring to the initiatives of the Regional Council and the working groups, he said that Sweden will contribute through its N5 cooperation (Foreign and Security Cooperation of the Nordic Countries) and through the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Billström also mentioned the Baltic Sea Youth Council as a valuable contribution to people-to-people interaction, but he forgot to mention the Barents Youth Programme that already exists for this purpose.

Related stories from the North:

Greenland: Indigenous groups need more influence in Arctic Council, says Inuit org, Eye on the Arctic

Norway: Built to befriend Russia, Barents cooperation transforms into Nordic front, The Independent Barents Observer

Russian: Lavrov formally withdraws Russia from Barents cooperation, The Independent Barents Observer