Foundations for the Development of the Baltic Sea Region and Its Spatial Structures

Informationen zur Raumentwicklung Heft 8/9.2009 515 Marek Dutkowski Foundations for the development of the Wilfried Görmar Baltic Sea Region and its spatial structures Tadeusz Palmowski 1 Origins of the Baltic Sea Region The Baltic Sea has integrated peoples and countries for several centuries. Periods of cooperation have mingled with times of competition and fight for regional hegemony. The development of crafts and towns in Western and Central Europe in the XI and XII century provided the grounds for the future Hanseatic League. The fact that, under the leadership of Lübeck, 200 multifarious towns, often far away from each other, have managed for 500 years to sustain active sol- idarity and loyalty towards the voluntarily joined League is an extraordinary phenom- Lübeck – starting point and symbol for centuries of Han- enon.1 seatic cooperation The community, which for two hundred rating the two opposing, social, economic years has been co-deciding on the econom- and military camps into two different social, ic, political and cultural development of economic and military systems. A sense the Baltic Sea Region, although based on a of peril, mutually created by political and material background, remained indifferent military doctrines, maintained the balance. to national problems and even religious dif- Countries around the Baltic Sea were ethni- ferences. It valued peace and took up arms cally, culturally, politically and economically as the last resort. Cultural values developed diversified with their Baltic Sea location as by the Hanseatic League towns survived the the only common feature. The term Baltic disintegration of the League itself. The ac- Sea Region (or Baltic Europe) at that time complishments of the period, especially in meant a theoretical and subjective instru- culture and art, that spread far beyond the ment of physical and geographical region- Baltic area itself, are admired to this day. alisation. In the sense of developed political, Prof. Dr. Marek Dutkowski Strong ties in cooperation and competi- social and economic ties it remained an ab- University of Szczecin tion, rivalry in the Baltic Sea Region, are stract concept. Department of Economic Geo- graphy and Regional Policy imprinted in the history of the Region. The In 1991, the old political system underwent Waska 13 sea linked people and countries, encour- a fundamental change creating an oppor- 70415 Szczecin aged the search for hegemony in the area. tunity to overcome the artificial barriers Poland For hundreds of years it remained a Region isolating Baltic neighbours. The area of the E-Mail: info@ marekdutkowski.eu of intensive commercial activity/trade, on Baltic Sea Region faced one of the greatest the one hand, and it experienced frequent, challenges in its thousand year-old history. Dr. Wilfried Görmar fierce, long lasting wars for power over the This was the result of the transformation Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- Baltic Sea, on the other hand. Sweden, Den- processes in Poland, the unification of Ger- und Raumforschung (BBSR) mark, different German states and Russia many, the independence of Estonia, Latvia im Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung many times tried to convert the Region into and Lithuania, and the accession of Sweden Deichmanns Aue 31–37 own “mare nostrum”. and Finland to the EU in 1995 as well as the 53179 Bonn growing role of the Kaliningrad Oblast as a E-Mail: wilfried.goermar@ Although after World War II the concept of strategic marine military base but also as a bbr.bund.de the Baltic cooperation was verbally declared, door of Russia to Europe. This geopolitical it was in fact impeded by the existing politi- Prof. Dr. Tadeusz Palmowski change created new opportunities for in- cal partition. The Baltic Sea Region consti- Instytut Geografii tensive economic and cultural cooperation tuted the “northern flank” of the political, ul. Dmowskiego 16a in this part of Europe. 80-264 Gdańsk military and ideological confrontation with Poland the two neutral countries Finland and Swe- The nineties of the 20th century repre- E-Mail: [email protected] den (not involved in war since 1815) sepa- sented a true “explosion” of various initia- [email protected] Marek Dutkowski, Wilfried Görmar, Tadeusz Palmowski: 516 Foundations for the development of the Baltic Sea Region and its spatial structures Baltic Sea Region means that joint initiatives in the European Union appear to accelerate the development of more peripheral regions to achieve the general Baltic Sea Region standard. Po- litical stability and economic development can in the long term transform the emerg- ing cross border Baltic Sea Region into a new economic and cultural “engine” of Eu- rope.5 At present, the Baltic Sea Region – as a uniform area of administrative, economic, cultural and infrastructural relations – still remains a hypothetical concept. However, there are clearly visible prerequisites for establishing a multinational functioning re- gion6 by establishing communication links, trade relations, a labour market and by solving environmental problems. The most significant binding agent is the political will for cooperation in all spheres of life with the superior objective of ensuring safety in general terms (avoiding conflicts, ensuring the social security of the inhabitants), a free flow of goods, people and information as well as environmental safety. © BBR Bonn 2009 250 km Landhöhen in Meter / Heights in meters Großstädte über 100 000 Einwohner 2 The political dimension of the Bal- Cities with more than 100 000 inhabitants unter 0 / below 0 tic Sea Region 0 bis 100 / 0 up to 100 1 000 000 und mehr / 1 000 000 and more 101 bis 200 / 101 up to 200 500 000 bis unter 1 000 000 / 500 000 up to 1 000 000 In the post-war period, political partitions 201 bis 500 / 201 up to 500 250 000 bis unter 500 000 / 250 000 up to 500 000 in Europe hampered the development of 501 bis 1000 / 501 up to 1000 100 000 bis unter 250 000 / 100 000 up to 250 000 institutional relations between the Baltic 1 001 bis 1 500 / 1 001 up to 1 500 Sea states. The first relations of this type 1 501 bis 3 000 / 1 501 up to 3 000 concerned an area less sensitive to political 3 001 und mehr / 3 001 and more divisions7, the protection of the Baltic marine environment, where as early as in 1973 joint works on the protection of the Baltic tives and forms of cooperation. Their exact Sea waters and living resources were under- number is difficult to be defined but is es- taken. timated at several hundred while many of them were more subregional, non-govern- A more intensive multilateral cooperation mental, project-oriented or temporary. The was initiated mainly between the Nordic more official pan-Baltic organisations ac- countries. Beginnings of this coopera- count for some 40 alone.2 Moreover, there tion date back to the previous century. Af- are numerous publications available.3 Due ter World War II, the Nordic countries, al- to the number and variety of relations, the though differing in terms of political status, situation was termed the “Baltic coopera- decided to undertake regional cooperation, tion phenomenon”.4 which was initially of an economic, cultural and scientific nature. In 1952, the Nordic Following the accession of the next ten Council was established. The Council to- countries to the European Union on the 1st gether with the Nordic Council of Ministers, May 2004, the Baltic Sea Region entered a established in 1971, became the main coor- new development phase. The Baltic Sea al- dinators of the internal and external policy most became an internal EU sea. This fact of the Nordic states and of cooperation with certainly strengthened cooperation be- the neighbouring states. They involved the tween countries around the Baltic Sea. This independent states in seeking common Informationen zur Raumentwicklung Heft 8/9.2009 517 solutions that clearly benefit all parties in- lished cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. volved8. The principal areas of cooperation Regular meetings are also held by ministers covered culture, science, education, envi- responsible for economy and trade, spatial ronmental protection, economy, protec- development, transport, energy, environ- tion of citizenship rights, fishing and legal mental protection, education and culture issues. The goal of the Nordic cooperation as well as civil security.12 Cooperation of is to preserve the common cultural heritage ministries responsible for spatial planning and to popularise the Scandinavian model and development takes place between for commonness of culture and science in- eleven countries around the Baltic Sea Re- spired by democratic ideals. Special atten- gion including Norway and Belarus.13 This tion is given to the protection of the Baltic initiative is aimed at establishing a com- marine environment and the whole catch- mon framework for spatial structures in the ment area. The year 1991 showed the begin- future. The common strategies developed ning of cooperation of the Nordic Council are to facilitate decision-making regarding on foreign policy and security issues with spatial development on the national, re- other countries in the Region, especially gional and local level. Strategies and recom- with the Baltic States. mended measures focus on overall interests of the Baltic Sea Region. They are addressed At the same time, more comprehensive col- to entities shaping the future of the Region laboration started between all countries in – politicians, administration, economic or- the Region and on all levels of state admin- ganisations, farmers, private investors, fi- istration, in various administrative sectors nancial institutions, non-governmental and also between non-governmental organ- organisations promoting regional develop- isations. Political decisions expressed in the ment and the protection of the environ- Declaration of the Baltic Sea, signed during ment as well as to scientific institutes deal- the meeting of prime ministers of the Baltic ing with spatial development.

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