“What We do Here in the North is Perhaps the Best Argument for Why NATO is Still Relevant”

"There is no doubt that we are close to geopolitics up here. Especially in relation to Arctic security, which has become increasingly important," says Norway's foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide (Labor), to High North News.

According to Eide, this is particularly about Russia's nuclear forces on the Kola Peninsula and Norway's ability to closely monitor them.

"What we do here in the north, from Reitan and the CAOC (Nato's new air defence centre in Bodø. ed. note), and what our intelligence service and naval service are doing up in the Barents Sea, is perhaps the best argument for why Nato is still relevant."

He points out that Nato's secretary general Mark Rutte recently highlighted this in a meeting with US president Trump.

"What we do here in the northern areas is directly relevant to American security, because the fleets with nuclear weapons in Russia are primarily there because of the USA. But it is we who are closest and can, in a war situation, prevent them from doing their jobs," he emphasises.

Arctic higher on the agenda

Eide believes Trump's comments about Greenland have also helped to raise the Arctic in the alliance.

"Fortunately, the overall message from the rest of the alliance to Trump has been that it is completely out of the question to take land from another Nato country, or from any other country at all."

"We have tried to channel the issue with Greenland into a broader understanding of Arctic security in general," says Eide.

The foreign minister describes Swedish and Finnish NATO membership as a significant strengthening of security in the north.

"But there is still a great potential to extract synergy from it. Now we are done celebrating it, so moving forward we really need to invest and make it relevant for us."

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Strategic significance

When asked what threatens the northern areas the most, Eide is clear:

"The biggest threat, I would actually say, is climate change and dealing with it. There is nowhere else on the planet where climate change is happening faster than in the Arctic."

In terms of security policy, he describes the situation as cold war-like, without immediate danger, but with high strategic significance if the global situation worsens.

"There is nothing to suggest that Russia will sneak in tomorrow, it is not that type of threat. But there is an awareness that if conditions outside our region become even more complicated, then our nearby areas will quickly become very important."

Eide emphasises that security also involves societal development.

"We must work on defence, but also civil preparedness, settlement, quality of life, and developing business so that there are people who live and thrive in the north. Having an active northern area policy in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and preferably having it more connected," he concludes.