The Government presents a written communication on the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

"The Baltic Sea Strategy concerns everyone that lives in the countries around the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea region has good prospects of becoming a role model for the whole of the EU in the fight against organised crime, effective climate change action and strong economic growth," says Birgitta Ohlsson, the government minister responsible for the Strategy.

The European Commission has identified four overall challenges to guide the Baltic Sea Strategy: 1) to create a sustainable environment, 2) to increase prosperity, 3) to increase accessibility and attractiveness, and 4) to improve safety and security in the region. The Strategy builds on the fundamental idea that no new institutions are to be created, no new budget funds are to be allocated and no special legislation is required. Instead, concrete results are to be achieved through deeper cooperation with existing institutions and resources.

Minister for EU Affairs Birgitta Ohlsson visited Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland between 1-5 March to study various aspects of the strategy.

"The implementation of the Baltic Sea Strategy will set the bar for the design of other regional strategies in the EU tackling common challenges. There are plans for similar initiatives in the Danube region and around the Mediterranean. I would like the Baltic Sea Strategy to be a concrete example of the strength generated by European cooperation," says Ms Ohlsson.

"The marine environment is the most urgent challenge for the Baltic Sea Strategy. In ten years from now I want the seabed to have recovered. Today, the dead zones are as large as the land area of Denmark. Through greater cooperation within the Strategy and strict requirements regarding the implementation of EU regulations, the Baltic can become a healthy sea."

Several projects within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

Environment

COHIBA

This project concerns 11 hazardous substances and will map the still largely unknown points of discharge and the reason for these, as well as develop measures against emissions. The project is worth EUR 4.9 million and is partly financed by the Baltic Sea Region Programme. The project began in 2009 and will be concluded in 2012.

BalticDEAL

This project aims to reduce agricultural eutrophication thereby reducing eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, which among other things causes algal blooms. The project was initiated by five farmers organisations including the Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF), and is one of the Strategy's flagship projects financed by, among others, NIB/NEFCO BSAP Trust Fund. An application to the Baltic Sea Region Programme was submitted on 22 March. The project consists of a network of 34 associated partners. It will cover 100 farms, where long-term fertilising will be demonstrated and education in the area will take place.

Prosperity

StarDust

Sweden is heading this project, which aims to strengthen cross-border cooperation between strong research and innovation environments. An application to the Baltic Sea Region Programme was submitted on 20 March. The project is worth EUR 6.5 over 2011-2013, involving 34 partners of which 11 are national, both ministries and innovation agencies and 23 project partners representing semi-public organisations in 10 countries. In addition, there are 35 associated partners from, for example, ministries, organisations in Iceland and different regions in Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Finland, as well as industry and cluster organisations.

Accessibility and attractiveness

BALTIC TRANSPORT OUTLOOK

Sweden is coordinating a transport study that is unique in terms of its scope and covers all modes of transport and both passenger and goods traffic. It is a joint project between the transport authorities in the Baltic Sea region. The aim of BTO is to describe the current transport flows used by all transport modes throughout the Baltic Sea region, the physical status of the infrastructure and the common bottlenecks, and also to make a forecast of these to 2030. The study is intended to function as a basis for future cooperation between the Baltic Sea countries in the transport area and must be completed by autumn 2011.

BEMIP! (Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan)

The project involves expanding the Nordic electricity market model to include the three Baltic states and includes, for example, a power cable between Sweden and the Baltic countries and distribution grids between and inside the Baltic states. Other examples that demonstrate that the Strategy is bringing about a new focus, and also new priorities, to infrastructure projects that have already been discussed include RAIL BALTICA, a direct and rapid rail link from Estonia to Germany. The Polish link to the Lithuanian border will be built in 2011-2013.

Security

BRISK (Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea)

BRISK (Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea)
This project covers all the maritime regions in the Baltic Sea and the Swedish Coast Guard is leading the work. BRISK's aim is to conduct an extensive inventory of the risks of oil and chemical marine pollution. The project will also determine whether the response and preparedness capacity is sufficient to respond to medium- and large-scale oil spills. This is the first time a major integrated risk analysis has been conducted for the entire Baltic Sea.