Towards a Baltic Sea Region Strategy in Critical ... - Helsinki.fi

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION
Table I—9 Main permanent regional councils, institutions and networks in the BSR. 35
Institution
Nature of
cooperation
Established
Description
EU-funded regional networks and
programmes in the BSR
Northern
Dimension
INTERREG IV
Intergovernmental,
transnational
Cross-border/
transnational/
Interregional
1999
Current
programme
period
2007-2013
The Northern Dimension policy is a common project of the EU, Iceland, Norway and the Russian
Federation. It covers a broad geographic area from the European Arctic and Sub-Arctic areas to
the southern shores of the Baltic Sea, including the countries in its vicinity and from North-West
Russia in the east to Iceland and Greenland in the west, but focuses increasingly on Northwest
Russia.
INTERREG IV consists of three strands: 'A' covering cross-border cooperation; 'B' for
transnational projects; 'C' for interregional cooperation. The geographic are it covers in the BSR
varies depending on the strands.
CBSS Intergovernmental 1992
NCM Intergovernmental 1971
BEAC Intergovernmental 1993
The Council of the Baltic Sea States is an overall political forum for regional intergovernmental
cooperation, with several working bodies.
The Nordic Council of Ministers is the forum for Nordic intergovernmental cooperation of most
policy areas
The Barents Euro-Arctic Council is forum for intergovernmental cooperation in the Barents
Region.
AC
Intergovernmental/
Transnational
1996
The Arctic Council is a high-level forum for cooperation, coordination and interaction between
Arctic states, indigenous communities and other Arctic residents.
HELCOM Intergovernmental 1980
The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (the Helsinki Commission or HELCOM)
works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution and to
ensure safety of navigation.
BASREC Intergovernmental 1999
The Baltic Sea Region Energy Cooperation supports the development of an effective, efficient and
environmentally sound energy market for the BSR.
35 Information and formulations in this table follow closely the respective institutions’ self-descriptions in their websites.
NORDREGIO REPORT 2007:5 46