The NEBI YEARBOOK 2003 : North European and Baltic Sea Integration

Bjllrn Tore Godal Norwegian Ambassador to Germany Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Board Several of the contributions to the present volume of The NEBI Yearbook have been inspired by the fact that roughly speaking, ten years have passed since the first steps were taken to initiate cross-border co-operation in the Barents and Baltic Sea areas. One of the most important co-operative organisations in the European Northeast, i. e. The Council of the Baltic Sea States, was launched in 1992. The Barents Euro Arctic Council was established in 1993. An avalanche of co-operative and cross-border initiatives has since hit this part of Europe with all kinds of actors participating - states, regional and municipal authorities, univer­ sities, national organisations, businesses and private interests. Even international organisations and actors from outside the immediate NEBI area have taken a special interest in this dynamic part of the world. Among the most important is the European Union, whose Finnish-inspired Northern Dimension initiative has become a permanent fixture. As many of the chapters in NEBI 2003 testifY, integration in the NEB I area - across old political and ideological borders and cultural and socio-economic divides that are among the most pronounced anywhere in the world - has on the whole been a great success. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii The NEBI Area Ten Years Later....Pages 3-18 Front Matter....Pages 19-19 Knocking on the Door: The Baltic Rim Transition Countries Ready for Europe?....Pages 21-45 Poland’s Incomplete Economic Transition....Pages 47-54 What Kind of Civil Service? Trends in Public Administration Reform in Eastern Europe....Pages 55-66 St Petersburg: A Russian Gateway to Europe?....Pages 67-83 The Baltic Universities — Facing New Challenges....Pages 85-95 European Integration as a Process: The Case of Tartu University....Pages 97-107 Front Matter....Pages 109-109 Local Agenda 21 in the Baltic Sea Area: Ecological, Economic and Political Stability for Local Level Sustainable Development....Pages 111-126 The Role of Energy in the Northern Dimension....Pages 127-139 The Environmental Legacy of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Baltic States....Pages 141-150 Economic Co-operation in the Barents Region: Russian-Norwegian Trade in the Fishing Industry....Pages 151-164 Front Matter....Pages 165-165 Towards Interregional Partnership Prospects in the Baltic Sea Region....Pages 167-185 Picture of a ‘New Europe’ as Portrayed by Cross-Border Co-operation Initiatives....Pages 187-203 Technology Transfer and Innovation in the Baltic Sea Region — a Cross-Border Perspective....Pages 205-221 Euregio Karelia: In Search of a Relevant Space for Action....Pages 223-239 Results and Perspectives of Transnational Co-operation for Spatial Development in the Baltic Sea Region....Pages 241-258 Front Matter....Pages 259-259 Baltic Security After Ten Years....Pages 261-272 Towards a New Agenda? US, Russian and EU....Pages 273-289 Northern Foreign Policies: Tensions Between Canadian and American Visions — Past and Present....Pages 291-309 Environmental Co-operation as a Pilot Project for Regional Integration in the Baltic Sea Area....Pages 311-327 Front Matter....Pages 259-259 Threat Perception, Police Culture and Paranoia: The Case of the Russian Mafia Around the Baltic Sea....Pages 329-341 North European and Baltic Statistics....Pages 343-353 Back Matter....Pages 355-498 This is the fifth volume of The NEBI Yearbook, whose aim it is to provide a balanced picture of integration in the North European and Baltic Sea areas. The special focus of NEBI 2003 is to survey the lessons learned and the experience gained as a result of a decade of intensive pan-Baltic and Barents co-operation made possible as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Like the previous volumes, NEBI 2003 contains a unique Statistical Section covering the entire NEBI area