Abstract
A “brave political experiment” calling for “unconventional decisions” promoting sub-regional cooperation that ultimately might develop into “a common European social and economic space” : this is how the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Viktor Khristenko, identified in 2003 the European Union's Northern Dimension . This statement highlights the innovative nature of the EU's Northern Dimension which aims at developing cooperation in various sectors within the Baltic Sea Region. However, the Baltic Sea area counts already several organisations for regional cooperation on issues specific to the neighbouring countries : the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS), the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC), the Arctic Council and the Nordic Council (NC), for instance. The need for another cooperation programme, framed within the EU policy this time, appears thus questionable. What is more, the Northern Dimension, or ND, and especially its environmental concerns, involves not only some northern member states of the EU but also non-member states such as Norway or Russia, as well as the Baltic States originally. The need for the EU's intervention can thus become clearer if one keeps in mind the notion of a political “experiment” for which it stands in the relations between the European Union and Russia. It seems thus interesting to consider the role played by the European Union in the region through its efforts to establish an environmental cooperation, covering particularly the problems of North –west Russia in this area.
