Iceland’s Arctic seat carries more than a place at the table

In a submitted article published by mbl.is, Bryndís Haraldsdóttir argues that Iceland’s position as one of the eight Arctic states gives it significant influence, and that European Union membership could affect the mandate attached to that position.

Icelanders sometimes view the country as a small state on the edge of Europe. In the Arctic, however, the picture is different: Iceland is one of the world’s eight Arctic states.

The Arctic has long been one of Haraldsdóttir’s main foreign policy priorities because Iceland’s future interests there are substantial. In 2021, Iceland’s parliament approved a new policy on Arctic affairs. Haraldsdóttir led the cross-party parliamentary committee that prepared the proposals on which the policy was based.

The policy emphasised Icelandic interests, the Arctic Council as the region’s most important forum for cooperation, sustainable use of resources, economic opportunities, security and cooperation with neighbouring countries, particularly Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

It also stated that the growing interest of states outside the Arctic should be viewed positively, provided that international law and the position of the eight Arctic states are respected. Haraldsdóttir writes that this is even more relevant today.

The Arctic in focus

Much has changed since 2021. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine overturned Europe’s security environment, while climate change has transformed the Arctic. Shipping routes, resources, energy, communications and the region’s military importance are attracting increasing attention.

The United States, Canada, Russia and China are looking north. So is the European Union, which is working on a new Arctic policy. The changing international political environment is prompting the EU to place greater emphasis on security and defence, connectivity and economic security.

Haraldsdóttir says this is understandable, given the EU’s considerable interests in the region. Iceland should likewise cooperate closely with the union on these issues, she writes, but the developments should also prompt Icelanders to reflect on their own position.

One of eight

Iceland is one of the eight states in the Arctic Council, alongside the United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

For a nation of almost 400,000 people, Haraldsdóttir describes this as a remarkable position. Iceland’s relative influence is greater in few other international forums, she writes. Geography gives Iceland a significance that the size of its population alone could never provide, and that influence is unlikely to diminish as global interest in the Arctic grows.

The seat and the mandate

Iceland would remain an Arctic state if it joined the EU, and would not automatically lose its seat on the Arctic Council. Sweden, Finland and Denmark are all members of both the EU and the Arctic Council.

The main difference, Haraldsdóttir argues, would concern the mandate that the seat provides. Iceland is currently an independent party to the international agreement aimed at preventing unregulated fishing in the central Arctic Ocean. The EU, by contrast, represents its member states in the agreement, meaning Sweden and Finland are not independent parties.

Under the EU treaties, the union has exclusive authority over the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy. Member states can continue to advocate for their own interests, but they do not themselves hold negotiating authority in areas where the EU has that power.

Haraldsdóttir notes an exception concerning the Kingdom of Denmark, which is a separate party to the agreement on behalf of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, both of which are outside the EU.

For Iceland, she writes, this distinction is highly significant because the country’s interests in resource use, the ocean and its fish stocks are substantial.