“Just by being here we can influence development”

EU policy affects Norrbotten, and therefore Norrbotten must influence EU policy. The Europaforum Northern Sweden network recently gathered in Brussels. – Just by being here, by holding the talks, we can also influence developments, says regional councilor Anders Öberg (S).

The political network Europaforum Norra Sverige has worked for the interests of the northern counties for over twenty years, across county and party borders. Together, the counties have an office, the North Sweden European Office, near the EU headquarters in Brussels.

On November 9, the network gathered at the Brussels office to take a position on various issues and meet people who work at the EU level. Anders Öberg, regional councilor in Region Norrbotten, was there.

– I see value in us being on site in Brussels and meeting with businesses and also describing issues that are important for northern Sweden, says Anders Öberg.

The theme of the conference was “Northern Sweden and the EU in a changing world.” There were interesting conversations about the paths to an EU policy that is favorable to northern Sweden.

The Europaforum gathered at the Northern Norway office in Brussels, which is shared with Northern Norway. 

Turbulent times for the EU

Several of the invited guests highlighted that it has been, and still is, a turbulent time for the European Union. It is about recovery from the pandemic, increasing geopolitical tensions, war and conflict, the climate crisis and demographic change – a period unlike any other since the creation of the EU. Some of the EU's responses to these challenges have been an increased focus on strategic autonomy, economic security and the EU's competitiveness.

Alison Hunter, Senior Advisor for Regional Policy, Innovation and Industrial Growth at the European Policy Center, spoke about the implications this could have for the future of cohesion policy.

Cohesion policy aims to level the playing field in the EU, to reduce the differences between the development levels of different countries and regions over time. But what will cohesion policy be in a few years? Alison Hunter sees difficult conversations ahead.

“Great disharmony”

- We have a big disharmony, a big gap between different opinions. What do we mean by cohesion, where and for whom? What are we prepared to pay for together? What will be the political priorities? Next year there will be a new parliament and a new commission and we will see a lot more Euroscepticism, she predicts.

Alison Hunter painted a picture of an EU where cohesion is being tested.

She believes that the connection between cohesion policy and development has become weaker.

– It leaves cohesion policy wide open to attack. For example, there is a new narrative from Germany that cohesion policy is ineffective.

Fredrik Tiger, Programme Manager Sweden at the European Commission's Unit for Regional Policy and Reforms, comes from Tornedalen but has now worked in Brussels for over ten years. He visited the Europaforum Norra Sverige conference and shared his thoughts. What are the big issues that will influence the discussion on cohesion policy?

Difficult issues on the agenda

Tiger believes that issues such as demography, war and crises, green transition and EU enlargement will be high on the agenda.

– It is a general problem in Europe with an aging population. It is a bigger problem at a regional level, not just in northern Sweden. It is a problem in many parts of Europe that there has been an exodus and it is becoming more and more difficult to maintain public services.

A huge question for the coming years is that of enlargement. Should Ukraine, Moldova and the countries of the Western Balkans be allowed in, and if so, when? And how does the EU have to change for it to work?

– If we just look at Ukraine, if they became members at this point, all other countries would become net contributors to the EU budget. That much money would flow to Ukraine. So either the budget has to be increased a lot or there has to be reforms in both cohesion policy and agricultural policy, says Tiger.

Fredrik Tiger outlined the major issues ahead of the negotiations on the EU's cohesion policy.

“Balance the picture”

All over Europe we are now clearly seeing the consequences of climate change, and therefore Fredrik Tiger believes that green transition will continue to be an important area. That cohesion policy is one of the keys to managing the green transition is clear to Europaforum Norra Sverige. Rickard Carstedt, rapporteur from Region Västerbotten, took the opportunity to hand over the network's position on cohesion policy to Fredrik Tiger.

– We see that the national level and the EU level have noticed that we are leading in all of Europe. Then the question arises why we should have sparseness allocation and extra support. It is important that we balance the picture. We have strong growth in the coastal region and up to Gällivare, but we still have structural challenges with extremely sparsely populated municipalities. We must help each other and be very clear about our structural challenges that we need help to fix, says Carstedt about cohesion policy.

Åsa Webber, Head of Office to EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson, also visited the North Sweden European Office in Brussels during the conference day. She said that it had been a difficult term of office. Ylva Johansson has a challenging portfolio: migration, security, terrorism, drugs, children and border issues.

– The EU came into being for a reason and we are constantly reminded that we must stick together. We have managed to keep the member states together in everything that has happened. It has been an incredibly challenging period but we have still managed to stick together reasonably well, we have moved forward.

Åsa Webber emphasized the importance of being on site to be able to influence EU policy.

“Kiruna the best thing that could happen”

She highlighted the importance of the Swedish presidency and that the entire Commission visited Kiruna in January.

– The best thing that could have happened was to take the whole Commission to Kiruna. It was the best thing Ursula (van der Leyen, Commission President) had ever been to. They showed her and the College that part of the world. It was a stroke of genius.

Åsa Webber also put into words why the North Sweden European Office exists and is needed.

– If 70% of Sweden's area is covered by forest, you have a different approach to what a forest is than if you were Malta. It is important that you are on site and talk about what this is from our perspective, talk about issues that are important in a constructive way. Point out alternative solutions, ways out. It is important that you are visible here, but also that you contribute to the discussion back home. Keep talking and be solution-oriented, if you come up with suggestions that can be done something about, you become a conversation partner in a different way.

Text: Sara Stylbäck Vesa