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BDF Psotrr Political 2013 Trends andnd Directions in the Baltic Sea Region Region Dilemmas and Coherence in the Baltic Sea Region Political State of the Region Report 2013 Editors Bernd Henningsen, Tobias Etzold and Anna-Lena Pohl Authors Wolfgang Biermann, Kinga Dudzinska, Joakim Ekman, Kimmo Elo, Fanny Engkvist, Maria Erashova, Tobias Etzold, Stefan Gänzle, Michael Gilek, Björn Hassler, Bernd Henningsen, Mindaugas Jurkynas, Leonid A. Karabeshkin, Andres Kasekamp, Kristine Kern, Peer Krumrey, Eini Laaksonen, Kari Liuhto, Hanna Mäkinen, Zaneta Ozolina, Anna-Lena Pohl, Lidia Puka, Christian Rebhan, Toms Rostoks, Gábor Schneider, Philipp Schwartz, Alexander Sergunin, Andris Sprūds, Anders Wivel, Arvils Zeltiņš Published by Baltic Development Forum Nytorv 3, 1st fl o o r DK-1450 Copenhagen K Denmark Telephone +45 70 20 93 94 Fax +45 70 20 93 95 [email protected] www.bdforum.org www.newswave.eu Language editing: Peter Dowdy Layout: Bitdesign / Leena Närhi, Finland Printing: InPrint / Laura Breimane Photo credits All photos, except mentioned below: Nordic Council of Ministers free photo data base http://www.norden.org/da/aktuelt/billeder page 35: www.shutterstock.com page 46: http://www.istockphoto.com/photo page 47: Jan Redzisz Sponsors Nordic Council of Ministers, Baltic Development Forum and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. ISBN 978-87-996254-1-3 2 POLITICAL STATE OF THE REGION REPORT 2013 Foreword by Edgars Rinkēvičs Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Over the last two decades the Baltic Sea Region We can already anticipate the transfer of lessons has solidifi ed its common history and cultural learnt from existing strategies to other European identity through a rapidly expanding cooperation peer regions. in the economic sphere. As a cornerstone of this Th e Report will address the involvement of process, the Baltic Development Forum Summit subnational authorities in the transposition of EU has become a common meeting place for high-level directives. Th e objective is to promote a multi-lay- participants, and Latvia is, indeed, proud to host ered and transparent approach to jointly tackle fu- this year’s Summit in Riga. Meanwhile, the Politi- ture challenges and increase the sense of ownership cal State of Region Report has undergone a com- among diff erent stakeholders. In the same vein, the prehensive expansion of covered topics and is now current study off ers a comprehensive analysis on recognized as one of the main points of reference the socio-economic and political situation of every for most actors of regional development. country in the region. Th e acquaintance between the citizens across Th e publication also showcases various funding the Baltic Sea will once again be reinforced, when programmes available in the Baltic Sea Region. Riga and Umeå will share the title of the European With this in mind, we should work together to fi nd Capital of Culture in 2014. By extension, one of the solutions to reduce social and economic disparities themes of the Report touches upon the perception between and within countries in the region. To of the Baltic Sea Region abroad. make growth sustainable it needs to be transformed As we are facing an increased number of global into the social equality by turning competitiveness challenges together, how can we put ourselves for for the benefi t of a society at large. a stronger position in the future? Th e time is ripe I encourage you to thoroughly read this report, for a forward-looking institutional architecture for openly discuss it with your colleagues and apply eff ective regional collaboration in the 21st century. its lessons in a committed and responsible manner. Th e Region is big enough to be a distinctive cultur- al and economic area, thus having a clear projection on the EU level and perhaps even globally. To this end, in 2015, Latvia will take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU with a commitment to strengthen even further the implementation of the Edgars Rinkēvičs EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, which cov- Minister of Foreign Aff airs ers several EU policies in an integrated approach. of the Republic of Latvia POLITICAL STATE OF THE REGION REPORT 2013 3 Foreword by Nicolai Wammen Danish Minister for European Affairs I would like to congratulate the Baltic Develop- In the fi nal days of the Danish Presidency, ment Forum think tank for its third Political State the EU decided on the completion of the review of the Region report. Th e report off ers interesting of the EUSBSR. Th e decision called on the Com- insights into a wide range of issues highly relevant mission and Member States to intensify actions to the dynamics in Baltic Sea Region. to further enhance political support for EUSBSR Indeed, dynamics and potential are the fi rst implementation at all levels. It set in motion a re- words that spring to mind when describing our view of the action plan under the EUSBSR, which region. Th ey also describe developments in 2012. has now been completed. And it recognized that an In May, the 20th anniversary of the Council of overall assessment of the two macro-regional EU- Baltic Sea States (CBSS) was marked in Stralsund strategies (Baltic Sea and Donau) and evaluation under German CBSS chairmanship. Founded in of their added value would be undertaken in mid- 1992 by former foreign ministers Hans-Dietrich 2013. Also in the wide spectrum of other platforms Genscher of Germany and Uff e Ellemann-Jensen and mechanisms for Baltic Sea cooperation activity of Denmark, the CBSS has developed into a suc- levels were high. cessful forum for regional, intergovernmental co- Th ese are all fi rm signs of a common will to operation. intensify and deepen cooperation in our region to In June, the Danish EU presidency co-orga- new levels. I welcome this development and hope nized the 14th Baltic Development Forum Summit that we will continue down this road. In particular, and the European Commission’s 3rd Annual Fo- I hope for more synergies among the main coop- rum on the EU Strategy on the Baltic Sea Region eration for a, such as the CBSS, the EUSBSR and (EUSBSR=) in Copenhagen. Th is year’s forum the Northern Dimension. And I hope for increased headline was “Connecting Europe – Smart and involvement of Russia in the regional context. Both Green Partnerships in the Baltic Sea Region”. Th e of these aspects deserve additional attention. large-scale event, which brought together more than 800 stakeholders, provided a platform for representatives from government, political parties, business, academia and civil society to discuss co- operation possibilities and growth initiatives in the Nicolai Wammen Baltic Sea Region. Minister for European aff airs. 4 POLITICAL STATE OF THE REGION REPORT 2013 Editors’ Foreword For some time, recognised experts from the Baltic themes relevant to the Baltic Sea Region. Th e re- Sea Region-oriented Th inktank DeepWater have porting period was between September 2011 and been dealing with questions concerning the Baltic April 2013. Th e chapters of this report primarily Sea Region, preparing to give advice and to initiate, refl ect the views of the individual authors and not develop and follow up political processes. Th e Baltic necessarily those of the editors and sponsors. Sea Region is still an interesting and challenging We would like to thank the authors of the chap- area, not only for policy-makers also for research- ters of this report for their valuable contributions, ers. Its promotion as a European macro-region and input and eff orts. We are indebted to Jan Redzisz of the launch and implementation of the EU Strategy the BDF for all of his technical support during the for the Baltic Sea Region have placed the region editing process and to Peter Dowdy for the proof- into the spotlight as an innovative area in which reading. In the name of everyone who has contrib- certain European developments and trends start. uted to the report, we would also like to express our Since these processes have, for the most part, not gratitude for the support of the Baltic Development been concluded but are still works in progress, there Forum, especially Hans Brask, the Nordic Coun- is the possibility and the need for input and fresh cil of Ministers, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation ideas from the academic world to further develop (Riga/Berlin), especially Norbert Beckmann-Di- diff erent forms of regional cooperation in particu- erkes, the Department of Northern European Stud- lar. With this in mind, the aim of the Th inktank ies at Humboldt University (Berlin) and the Ger- is to contribute with its expert knowledge to the man Institute for International and Security Aff airs continuously necessary monitoring and analysis of (SWP Berlin). We hope that this report proves per- regional developments. suasive to responsible persons and decision makers, Indeed, the Political State of the Region Reports and creates the possibility of future work. are an attempt to make such a contribution and to provide such input. In October 2011 we launched Berlin, in May 2013 the fi rst Report in Gdansk, and in June 2012 the second in Copenhagen. Now, we are glad to be able to present the third Report of this kind. In it, we returned to the structure of the fi rst report. In its fi rst part, the report deals with all the countries of the BSR, even including Iceland and Norway, out- lining and analysing recent political and economic developments within these countries as well as their activities in the BSR. Th e report’s second part con- tains assessments of various issue areas and specifi c Bernd Henningsen, Tobias Etzold, Anna-Lena Pohl POLITICAL STATE OF THE REGION REPORT 2013 5 Table of Contents Foreword by Edgars Rinkēvičs, Section B: Regional Issues Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia: Chances, Opportunities, and Challenges 54 Political State of Region Report 2013.
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