Securing Northern Europe – bridging the Baltic Sea, North Atlantic and the Arctic

On December 12, 2017, the Atlantic Council’s Northern Europe Office and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung hosted a public conference in Stockholm to discuss the need to bridge perspectives and start forming a merged agenda to successfully face the security challenges in Northern Europe following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and aggression in Eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Keynote addresses were made by H.E. Peter Hultqvist, Defense Minister of Sweden; Minister Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden; and Ms. Tone Skogen, State Secretary, Ministry of Defense, Norway.

The first panel on the transition of security in the Baltic Sea featured Mr. Edward Lucas, Senior Vice President, Center for European Policy Analysis; Mr. Michal Baranowski, Director, German Marshall Fund Poland; Dr. Mike Winnerstig, Deputy Director of Research, Swedish Defense Research Agency; and Dr. Barbara Kunz, Research Fellow, French Institute of International Relations. The panel was moderated by Ms. Katarina Tracz, Director, Frivärld.

The second panel discussed the renewed geostrategic focus of the North Atlantic and the Arctic. The speakers included Dr. Ann-Sofie Dahl, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; Professor Julian Lindley-French, Senior Fellow, Institute of Statecraft; Dr. Ekaterina Klimenko, Researcher, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute; Dr. Anke Schmidt-Felzmann, Research Fellow, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs; and Mr. Vago Muradian, Editor, Defense & Aerospace Report. The moderator was Mr. Karsten Friis, Senior Adviser, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

The third panel focused on creating a more comprehensive approach to Northern Europe which would address the Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic and the Arctic together, rather than separately. This panel was moderated by Ms. Riina Kaljurand, Research Fellow, International Center for Defense and Security and included Ms. Anna Wieslander, Director, Northern Europe, Atlantic Council; Dr. Robin Allers, Senior Fellow, The Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies; Professor Sten Rynning, University of Southern Denmark; and Major General (ret) Karlis Neretnieks, former President of the Swedish National Defence College, fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences. 

To rewatch the event, click here.