European leaders meet as Arctic thaw opens shipping routes and Russian buildup stokes security fears
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ROVANIEMI, Finland (AP) -- European leaders joined forces Monday to highlight growing competition in the Arctic, where global warming is opening new shipping routes, governments are vying for vast natural resources and a Russian military buildup is heightening security concerns.
The leaders, mostly from Nordic and Baltic countries, put a spotlight on environmental challenges, economic opportunities and military vulnerabilities at a time of doubts about whether the United States, through NATO, will remain a bulwark against Russia.
"This region has become a geopolitical hotspot," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a joint news conference, insisting a new EU focus should complement NATO's work. "Russia is building up its military capabilities here, and Russia uses its presence for hybrid activities every day."
Merz said his presence -- Germany is not an Arctic country -- testified to the importance of the region to overall European security and suggested years of relative neglect should end. "Let me put it this way: High north -- and low attention -- is over," he said.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo of Finland, which hosted the meeting in the capital of Lapland that's home to a Santa Claus village, noted "high demand for concrete EU action in the Arctic" and a changing security environment.
"The Arctic has emerged as the central arena of great power competition," he said.
The two-day gathering that began Sunday comes on the heels of a Norwegian seizure of a Russian vessel earlier this month in the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard at the request of Ukraine, drawing the condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.