EU's Northern Dimension must look beyond the Baltic and Russia

3.58.15pm GMT Wed 16th Nov 2005

UK Liberal Democrat MEP, Diana Wallis, who will represent the European Parliament at next Monday's Foreign Ministers meeting to discuss the Northern Dimension programme has said that the EU must also look beyond the Baltic and Russia.

Speaking following the European Parliament's vote today, Wednesday, on its own Northern Dimension resolution Diana Wallis said:

"There is a danger that we look too narrowly at what the Northern Dimension can offer. There are now far more MEPs from countries around the Baltic Sea than the last time this was discussed so it is not surprising that the resolution has a greater focus on that region. Indeed it is welcome that the Northern Dimension now attracts more attention and debate in the Parliament.

"However I believe that there should be more to the Northern Dimension programme than this and I am pleased that Parliament has endorsed the view that we should also be looking much further north, towards the Arctic. We know that climate change is starting to have a devastating impact on the Arctic region and it is here after all that tensions between the exploitation of energy resources and the environment are most keenly felt.

"We have a great opportunity in Europe as we are coming up to International Polar Year to really put the situation in the Arctic at the centre of policy making. It is not merely a faraway region of the world. The melting ice-cap will have a devastating impact on countries further south such as the UK. As someone once said the Arctic's relationship to the world is like that of a canary in a coal-mine shrieking out its warning."