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Thank you very much to the High Representative and the Commissioner.

We are now ready to take your questions.

As a reminder, if you can say your name and the media outlet for which you work before asking your question.

Just to flag that the HRVP has a commitment in plenary at 4 o'clock, so we will do our best to take as many questions as possible. We start with Eddie.

Eddy Wax with rapporteur used to be called you active.

I have a question for whichever commissioner would like to take it.

I would like to know because the strategy announces new things icebreakers,

cable infrastructure, surveillance capabilities, and new cooperation structures.

However, some people are saying there's no budget, there's no icebreaker procurement plan,

no operational timetable for the proposed cable hub.

So what is the one kind of concrete deliverable you can, you can give us, you can provide, you can create in the next 12 months?

The new strategy will be presented to the Council and the European Parliament and to all stakeholders in the EU Member States and partner countries. This is basically the first step.

There has been extensive consultation of stakeholders throughout the drafting process,

and this will continue as the implementation phase begins.

At this stage, and you are right, in the financial cycle,

it is not possible to make commitments on future funding.

However, and the proof is basically our partnership package with Greenland,

we are somehow always prepared to find.

The resources, but this question of the future funding,

that is why we are working with the President of the European Council to reach agreement with Europe's next budget by hopefully the end of this year.

Several proposals would require funding from existing programs and subject to progress future funding stream.

I mean, on that, it is true that the MFF discussions are ongoing, so for the future, but one very concrete thing that we can do is, the,

updates or upgrades for our satellites to to cover also the Arctic and, and I mean they're already covering part of it,

but it's something, you know, concrete that we can also push forward faster. Thank you. Thank you.

Let's continue with questions here in the press room. Yes, to the back.

I'm going to ask a question in French. Perhaps you need interpretation. OK, on Greenland.

Given the fact that our American allies are not so reliable these days,

have you thought about Europe establishing its own surveillance bases in Greenland?

If there are, because there could potentially be hostile activities against us,

why would you allow the surveillance of Greenland to be given to a country that is less and less reliable?

Well, we already have, we already have the in the in the strategy also the the cable hub and,

and, you know, the different.

Hubs maritime security hubs that we are putting forward that are actually dealing with the surveillance and information sharing in the Arctic and like I said before,

we are open to all the countries that share our views, our values, so we are working together with Canada,

with Norway, with Iceland, and also I mean the United States if they so wish. We can move to the next question.

I would take Jarno from remote and then come back to Philippe in the press room.

Thank you so much for taking my question. I hope you can hear me. I'd like to ask about the icebreakers.

I, I, I assume this is for the HRVP, as you said, the Arctic icebreakers are a measure of power.

However, the strategy does not mention any, you know,

does not really give concrete details on numbers or, or even timeline. For, for, buying new, new, icebreakers.

I was just thinking if you could provide any more details, for instance, on the, on the timeline,

when you do, when do you see that the EU would need, more, icebreaking capacity? Thank you.

Well, I was, I was, talking about, dual use and, multi-purpose assets and, the icebreakers.

This is definitely an area where we have a leading European technology and production capacity.

The Finnish icebreakers are purchased by many partners,

and there is definitely increasing demand.

Other Member States, such as Germany, also have production capacities, and other Member States are building production capacities.

As navigation routes open up, we will need more capacity,

and that is why the joint communication stated that we should map. Existing icebreaker needs and vessels.

We then aim to take it a step further by developing options for joint procurement, so basically shared icebreaker capacities, pooling and, as I said,

sharing icebreaker capacities, and when it comes to basically Available capacities,

so the EU Member States have already a number of icebreakers,

so roughly 10.

These are, however, different types of icebreakers and for partially different environments.

While we know that some of them cannot operate in the Arctic, we cannot provide an Very exact number of Arctic ready icebreakers,

but this underlines even more how important the Arctic strategy is.

We need to have the full picture of current capacity and step up capacity production of multi-purpose icebreakers to respond to various needs,

and these are security, emergency response, trade routes, research. Maintenance and the net. Thank you very much.

If we come to you just to flag that the High Representative will need to leave in a couple of minutes.

So if you have questions for her, it's the time to ask. Thank you.

It is for her, Philippe from the Norwegian media, Anahiio Klima.

High Representative,

the energy prices in Europe are currently very high and Europe has repeatedly paid the price for its dependency on fossil fuels.

Yet with this strategy, the EU makes a very, very clear statement that oil and gas and coal from the Arctic is not wanted,

even though the Norwegian government has announced quite large extensive plans to drill and explore for more oil and gas in the Arctic,

pointing towards Europe's energy security needs.

Why When you have paid the price so many times, would you say no to your closest partner,

your most important energy provider to this, for this oil and gas?

Actually, this is not my field, this is the response that Commissioner Síkela has been practicing.

What I have to say as a former Energy Minister of one of the most industrial countries in Europe, in line with the Joint Communication 2021 on the Arctic,

the EU's position remains clear on ensuring that oil, coal,

and gas stay in the ground, including the Arctic regions.

We simply underline the importance of meeting the goals. The goals of the Paris Agreement. We are sticking to our targets.

We are by far the biggest investor in the Greer Deal and the net zero approach,

including the transition away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner.

So we are committed to achieving the climate neutrality 2050.

Of course, due to specific vulnerabilities,

the Commission will work with partners to protect the Arctic environment and to prevent all hydrocarbon reserve developments that pose a threat to the Arctic ecosystem.

So basically, what we are saying is that we want with our partner countries.

Focus on sustainable and more climate resilient Arctic and focused on the concrete project and the concrete thing,

and we respect the decision of Norway simply to open or to at least explore the opportunities for the new drills. Thank you, Commissioner.

The High Representative had her commitment in plenary, so she had to leave us just now,

but we can continue with the Commissioner for a few additional questions.

I see Manservisi here in the press room come to you and then we see if there's anyone else from remote.

Hello, it's Elisa Caragiori from Naphtboriki in Athens in Greece.

You mentioned that the Arctic is getting warm 4 times faster right now.

So are you going to cooperate with the United States in this, strategy?

I'm asking this because there is a government that denies actually climate change.

As already mentioned, the US is a very important Arctic player and the Another neighborhood,

the platform to streamline the synergies, to cooperate on a more prosperous.

More safe, more secure, but mainly more sustainable Arctic is open architecture for each and every like minded country,

sharing the same values and respecting international law.

Thank you very much, Commissioner, let me see if we have other hands raised. Let's go, the 2nd row.

Philippe, I'll get back to you if we have the time. Thank you so much.

So you mentioned a few EU countries are also Arctic countries, like, for example,

Sweden, so I was wondering, are these countries particularly involved in the strategy?

Are the European countries that are also Arctic countries involved in elaborating the strategy? Of course they are.

There was the Arctic Forum here in Brussels. I was visiting.

Rovaniemi Arctic Forum,

where basically the Arctic countries were present. We were having plenty.

I was visiting also Iceland where also other members.

So, so basically the Arctic member states who are involved,

the non-member states like I mentioned them, Iceland, Norway, Canada.

Have been intensively consulted, and of course, the part of the role was taken over by the special adviser Jyrki Katainen,

who was basically traveling and meeting the governmental representatives and fine tuning.

With governments, with local communities, with young people, me as well, basically the needs, the wishes, the visions,

in order to get a comprehensive view of what is needed,

where are the priorities, how the countries see the priorities. So yes, they were involved. Thank you very much.

I don't see other hands online, so I continue here in the press room. Felipe, we come back to you. Thank you.

Commissioner, I wanted to ask you about the critical raw materials aspects of the, of the strategy.

In the strategy, there's particular reference to three projects in the high north of Scandinavia.

Which are also, in close connection to Sami traditional lands, and you say that all initiatives will be built in, by listening and, respecting the decisions of indigenous peoples,

but, several of these projects have already had,

quite a lot of conflict with the local indigenous peoples, notably the Nussir Mine in northern Norway.

Sami people,

the Sami Parliament of Norway has said that They do not feel heard in in the way that the mine of Nusir has been set up.

I know this is a very specific question,

but I want to hear concretely how you're going to involve and respect the decisions of indigenous peoples and particularly Sami people in northern Scandinavia.

I think that To the delivery Improving the lives of the Of the local communities and local people.

This is basically one of the main targets of this strategy.

And we are committed to working with the local players, including regional representatives, and I have the list the northern sparsely populated areas Network,

the North Klot Council, the Arctic 6 Alliance of Universities, the EU Arctic,

the Arctic Mayors' Forum, the Nordic Council of Ministers, or the Arctic Economic Council.

As I said, I personally met the representatives of local communities in Finland,

in Lapland, in Greenland, I was discussing basically their communities.

Recently in Iceland, I met the young representatives,

the youths from all the Arctic members discussing their views, their visions, their priorities with them.

When it comes to CRM and the commitment of the local people to these projects, this is, I think, about a communication, about explaining what are the benefits for the local communities,

because when you look at, for example, the GDP structures of some of the Arctic countries,

the fishery and the subsidies, for example, in the case of Greenland are dominating, and this is the question.

This is why, basically some of the projects can be really economically transformative,

to explain how to use the natural resources.

And the value creation on the soil of the countries in favor of the local citizens, because this is not only about a digital connectivity,

this is also about schools, education, transport connectivity,

so a certain risk infrastructure is to be built.

This is obvious, but of course, we do not want to do it without the commitment of the local people. Thank you very much, Commissioner. I don't see hands raised. A very last question.

We have one minute, so it has to be a fast one. Then the commissioner has to go.

OK, Commissioner, it's costly Gropoulos from any global media in the UK.

You mentioned the, the active strategy foresees cooperation among the like-minded, northern neighbors, but In terms of the not like-minded neighbors and people who want to undermine the infrastructure,

and do you see a potential for conflict in the Arctic and what are the ways to protect the infrastructure like cables or anything in the future besides monitoring?

We are also having talks with the UK because the UK is also heavily interested in the region, and one of the things we need to highlight is the protection of the civil infrastructure,

because, of course, nobody wants to replace the NATO defense and the deterrence role,

but basically NATO doesn't have a budget.

The budget is owned by the Member States, so we need to team up, we need to become more.

And we have to identify jointly the gaps and basically to make better use of each pound, euro,

and US dollar to spend in order to increase the impact of these investments,

not only for military purposes,

but also for civil protection and for civil use. Thank you, Commissioner.

This brings us to the end of this press conference.

Thank you for having participated, of course, to the Commissioner, the High Representative.

We will be back in a couple of minutes for a press conference on the 2040 vision for fisheries and aquaculture that was also adopted by the College today.