The question of how regional seas, such as the Baltic and North Sea can be secured differently, continues to be a top priority in Europe’s security and defense debate. On October, 11th I had the pleasure to speak at a forum at the British Embassy in Copenhagen.
In my talk I stressed the importance of shifting our thinking about security to account for the new age of infrastructure we are living in. Our growing dependency on maritime infrastructures, notably in the light of the green energy transformation which depends on offshore installations, implies that we have to better integrate policy and operations that address energy security, supply chain security, maritime security and marine safety.
We also need to revisit how to better manage regional inter-dependencies, not only in the framework of NATO and the EU, but also institutions, such as the Bonn Agreement or the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission.
Dealing with threats and emergencies, such as the 2022 Nordstream sabotage, the 2023 Balticconnector leak, but also accidents, such as the Yannis P incident of August 2023, caused by shadow fleets, demand so.