Speech
Stakeholder conference - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region 30 September 2008
Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister

Speech by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at the Stakeholder conference - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour to be here today. Let me first thank the European Commission for its initiative in convening this stakeholder conference in Stockholm.

I would also like to thank Governor Unckel and the County Administrative Board of Stockholm for hosting this event.

And, I would like to thank Commissioner Hübner for her personal commitment and for the dedicated work being done by the Directorate for Regional Policy.

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Despite the recent financial turmoil, developments in the Baltic Sea region since the beginning of the 1990's have been truly remarkable.

In the early 1990's the Baltic Sea was still a sea where East and West rarely met. There were few connections across the sea. You could not step on a plane in Stockholm and fly to Tallinn, Riga or Vilnius. I remember how we talked about political and economic integration across the sea as a distant dream.

Less than 20 years later, we can look back and see the Baltic Sea region has had a record of strong economic growth, sometimes even ranked among the most competitive regions in the world.

The Baltic Sea is once again a sea connecting people and economies.

Around 90 per cent of all trade within the region is transported by sea. In total, some 2000 ships are in transit in the Baltic Sea every day.

For Swedish companies, some of the most important export markets are found in the region: our trade with other states around the Baltic Sea increased 20 per cent just last year.

The single most important driver of political and economic integration in our region has been the enlargement of the European Union, first with Finland and Sweden in 1995 and then with the three Baltic countries and Poland in 2004.

Today, a key feature of the Baltic Sea region is that eight of the nine littoral states are members of the EU. And ten out of the eleven CBSS countries are completely integrated in the internal market of the European Union, with its 550 million consumers and 20 million companies.

At the same time, with a Union of 27 members, new EU policy initiatives place increasing importance on what can be done in the context of a smaller group of countries that have certain characteristics in common.

One such macro region is the Baltic Sea region, which could become a pilot region in the development and implementation of macro regional initiatives in the European Union.

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The Baltic Sea is facing serious environmental problems; ranging from eutrophication and overfishing to the risk of accidental oil spills, alien invasive species arriving with ballast water and habitat destruction.

These challenges are directly linked to our way of life. The way we produce and consume contributes to global warming, pollution, material use, and natural resource depletion. We urgently need to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.

The longer we wait before taking firm action to restore the marine environment, the more expensive it will be.

So I believe investments in a healthier Baltic Sea should be seen as investments in a prosperous and competitive region. Remember: the cost of non-action is also a cost. No tourist wants to swim in a polluted sea. You don't want to eat sea food from contaminated waters.

The time has come to show the economic benefits of ecosystem services, the cost of measures required to protect these services and the estimated cost of inaction for the Baltic Sea.

Sweden, together with others, is now working on such a socioeconomic report - like the Stern-Report on climate change.

The Swedish Government has a clear ambition when it comes to our national policy on the Baltic Sea: to let companies expand and prosper in the region - and at the same time preserve and, if needed, restore the eco systems of the sea.

The effects of eutrophication will be irreversible if we don't act now. But while we see the effects at sea, the source of the problem is on land: in Sweden, agriculture is responsible for most of the marine pollution.

In response to, Sweden is now taking measures regarding the sectors that emit the most phosphorus and nitrogen - the main cause behind eutrophication. We are also investigating the possibility of introducing trading schemes for phosphorus and nitrogen.

Having some 2000 ships in transit in the Baltic Sea every day - a number growing day by day - obviously affects the environment. We need to lower emissions at sea and improve maritime surveillance.

Surveillance activities are carried out by national authorities. But to be really effective they would need to be part of an interoperable surveillance system as suggested in the EU's Integrated Maritime Policy.

As a first step, I would like to propose that a pilot project be formed for the Baltic Sea to develop such an interoperable system.

Last year, the members of HELCOM adopted the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. Next year, the Swedish Government will present its bid to reach the Swedish targets.

Sweden welcomes the initiative by NEFCO and the Nordic Investment Bank to set up a fund to support implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan.

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I see great potential in a more closely integrated Baltic Sea region.

But as I am saying this, we are - no doubt - experiencing some difficult times. The financial markets are suffering great losses, now not only at a safe distance across the Atlantic but also here in Europe.

We see how our Baltic neighbours are experiencing how the economic growth they had become used to now is coming to a halt.

We see how financial institutions in the Baltic Sea region are struggling with payments and loans.

We see how regular people are getting more and more careful, slowing down consumption and worrying about their savings.

The fact that no country is unaffected by this is of course yet another illustration of how codependent we have become. We are all highly integrated.

In the Baltic Sea region.

In Europe.

In the rest of the world.

I still believe we should keep our economies open and eliminate barriers restricting the free flow of trade and investments.

And the Baltic Sea region has performed well, historically.

But to regain financial stability and continued economic growth we now have to recognize what mistakes we might have made and see the obstacles lying ahead.

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In the last ten years, other parts of the world have experienced rapid change. Recently we have seen China and India, the world's two most populous countries, turn into economic superpowers.

Here, in the Baltic Sea region, globalization presents us with some particularly demanding challenges. It is the geography, the demography and the insufficiently developed infrastructure.

Our region has many small countries, some having vast areas with very little population and small domestic markets. Sometimes there is lack of modern roads, bridges and railroads connecting the various parts.

We know competitiveness in the rapidly increasing global competition requires interaction between different competences, actors, clusters and places where innovation can thrive.

Therefore, a single region, cluster or innovation environment - especially in a small country - will have difficulties. And thus a developed coorporation between clusters and innovation environments in neighbouring countries will have a great potential.

From a Swedish perspective a key to meeting the challenges of globalisation is closer interaction and more cooperation across our national borders.

One area where more cooperation is urgently needed is infrastructure planning. More coordinated planning with a regional perspective would be particularly useful for cross-border sections of roads and railways - not least in the future revision of the TEN Guidelines.

The Baltic Sea region has a sea of opportunities. The Strategy can be an important platform for more coordinated, targeted and long-term regional actions.

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So the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea region now under preparation by the European Commission will be an important tool for bringing about closer and more focused cooperation in areas of key concern to our region.

There is a lot of money available for cooperation in the Baltic Sea region from various EU programmes, as Commissioner Hübner no doubt will remind us here today.

However, there will be no new money earmarked for the Strategy.

I hope the Commission shares my view that an important aim of the Strategy and its Action Plan will be to highlight a limited number of priority actions.

And that it can be used to explore effective and efficient ways of aligning these priorities with available financing from various sources, including the International Financial Institutions.

As preparation of the Strategy proceeds, more will become clear about the choice of priority actions. A closely linked issue is to identify who is going to be responsible for implementation of the various actions.

No doubt some actions will need to be implemented at national level but some will also have to be implemented at local and regional level.

My Government will be strongly committed to implementation of the Strategy. The launch of this strategy will also be one of the top priorities for next year's Swedish Presidency of the EU.

Let me repeat:
Sweden regards the Baltic Sea strategy and its implementation as a political priority. Many measures will need a bottom-up approach. Your active involvement as regional and local partners will be crucial to the Strategy's success.

May the conference here today serve as a source of fresh ideas and an inspiration for the important work ahead.

Thank you