The European Parliament (EP) has accepted in the Plenary 12th March 2014 a resolution on the EU strategy for the Arctic.
The EP "Reiterates its call for a united EU policy on the Arctic, as well as a coherent strategy and a concretised action plan on the EU's engagement on the Arctic, with a focus on socio-economic and environmental issues; believes that this strategic choice is integral in ensuring legitimacy and local support for the EU's Arctic engagement".
The EP Resolution also includes a paragraph to reaffirms its support for the establishment of an EU Arctic Centre. The EP "reaffirms its support for, and urges the Commission to proceed with, the establishment of the EU Arctic Information Centre as a networked undertaking with a permanent office in Rovaniemi, with reference to the Preparatory Action 'Strategic environmental impact assessment of the development of the Arctic', as supported by the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in their 2012 joint communication and implemented by the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland together with a network of European centres of excellence on the Arctic, with the goal of ensuring efficient access to Arctic information, dialogues at all levels and communication for the purpose of harnessing information and knowledge with a view to sustainability in the Arctic".
"We are pleased to notice that the Parliament express its support in such a concrete way with special mentions related to the network model, a permanent office in Rovaniemi and the work done by the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. This will create expectations to the oncoming decisions by the European Commission", says Professor Paula Kankaanpää, director of the Arctic Centre.
Read more at Arctic Centre
Read the Joint Motion for a Resolution on the EU strategy for the Arctic (2013/2595(RSP))