The Arctic Vector of the Foreign Policy of the European Union

The paper examines the EU policy in the Arctic in the context of the global competition in the region. The author analyzes the new role of the EU in the Arctic region, which gains more importance in the foreign policy of the European Union. He also describes the stages of European policy in the Arctic, towards which the EU has increased its interest over the past decade. The EU policy in the region is based on a significant number of documents containing the main objectives and key directions of European policy. The EU policy in the Arctic has a dual nature. Despite the fact that the European Union declares its commitment to multilateral cooperation and readiness to interact on a wide range of issues, its foreign policy de facto is different. First of all, it concerns the extraction of hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic, which is in the focus of many countries’ attention. The EU aspires to be a key player in decision-making process in the Arctic. The environmental challenges in the region have become an instrument of the EU to promote its interests, to influence the policies of other states. In this context, the paper explores both the impact of the EU decarbonization policy, and possible implications for multilateral interaction in the Arctic. The climate agenda has become a new component of EU policy in the region. It is aimed at reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The EU plans to extend the implementation of climate protection objectives to the Arctic. By declaring decarbonization as a long-term development goal, the EU intends to apply this approach to the Arctic. In this context, the EU decarburization policy has serious implications for multilateral interaction in the Arctic. © 2022, Institute of Europe Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.