The EU and Justice in the European Arctic

The chapter considers the issue of distributive and procedural justice in the EU-Arctic nexus by looking at three themes that are currently particularly visible in the European Arctic: Green transition (with focus on renewable energy and critical raw materials), tensions between conservation and traditional livelihoods, as well as the efforts to ensure meaningful participation of Arctic stakeholders. Three features of EU-Arctic nexus emerge as relevant: a) The perception of the EU as a normative power, b) two disconnections, between EU goals and concrete projects’ implementation, and between the EU’s Arctic policy and EU policy frameworks that exert actual impact on Arctic realities, and c) the use of abstract sustainability language that obscures challenges and tensions in the pursuit of developmental goals. These three features, in connection with limited EU competences, lead to difficulties in assessing and pursuing substantive/distributive and procedural justice within the EU.