Research On EU Arctic Policy From The Perspective Of Multi-level Governance

With enormous resources and geographical value,the Arctic is one of the most important public areas in the world.Due to the global warming,the Arctic has shown an increasingly economic opportunity in the face of the threat of deterioration of the ecological environment recently.European Union,as a special Arctic extra-actor,shows a strong interest in Arctic affairs cause it has great interests in this region.Four major EU political institutions,the European Council,the European Commission,the Council of the European Union and European Parliament,have already make policy related to Arctic to realize the proposes better since 2007.Members of the EU such as Germany,France,Italy,Finland,Sweden,Denmark,Spain,the Netherlands and Poland have observer status with the Arctic Council prior to the EU,some of them even developed national Arctic policy papers or strategies.While the EU has formulated a unified Arctic policy,EU Member States are also engaged in Arctic affairs in line with their national priorities independently,which has made the EU's Arctic policy a complex multiplicity.From the perspective of multi-layer governance theory,this paper analyzes the roles of different actors in EU Arctic decision-making,and their multi-level interaction model.By sorting out the introduction,development and evolution of the EU's Arctic policy under the multi-layered governance system,it can be found that the relevant policies are the result of multi-party coordination between the EU institutions and member states at the national,supranational and sub-regional levels.As this process is changing,the EU's motivations and methods for promoting the interests of the Arctic are constantly improving as the policy environment changes.there is no doubt that the EU is an indispensable actor in the Arctic affairs,studying the development of the EU's Arctic policy can provide a useful reference for other Arctic actors to participate in Arctic governance.