Security

Today the Baltic Sea Region faces many challenges in security matters. Almost all countries around the Baltic Sea are NATO-members, and all, except Russia, are members of the EU. Despite these similarities there are big differences between the opinions of the people on these matters in different countries. There are many reasons for this the most important being geographical and historical.

The Georgian war in 2008 showed Europe again how tense the relations between an expanding NATO and Russia can become. For a brief moment it seemed that a new cold war lies ahead. At the moment there is a trend towards the militarization of the Baltic Sea Region. The United States is planning to build a part of its Ballistic Missile Defence System to Poland, while Russia is planning to respond to these plans by deploying tactical nuclear warheads in the Kaliningrad area.  

Among issues of military security there are also soft-security matters, which influence the Baltic Sea. There are big differences in the living standards between the different countries. Low living standards, poor law enforcement and corruption result for example in social problems as the spreading of organized crime and human trafficking.

What is your opinion? What should the EU do to counter the different threats to soft and military security?

The results of the national seminars
Discussion forum about security