Amid EU Budget Discussions, How Much New Money Is Actually Devoted to the Arctic
In a Monday interview with Rapporteur, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said that early elections in Spain have complicated the EU’s long-term budget negotiations.
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The spending plan at stake is the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034, nearly €2 trillion under the Commission’s original proposal. Nausėda is closely involved because Lithuania takes over the rotating Council presidency on 1 January 2027.
European Council President António Costa wants a “final push” for a deal by mid-December. But Nausėda told Rapporteur there is a “Plan B” for 4 February—and he described the earlier deadline as “very, very ambitious”.
That timing matters for the Arctic. The EU adopted Europe’s Northern Neighbourhood: A New Strategy for the Arctic on 20 October, and Turkish outlet ICWWM has found that most of the money it promises was already in the budget. The only exception is the €200 million pledged to Greenland in September, an announcement The Arctic Century covered at the time.
Here is ICWWM’s table:
| Figure in the strategy | What it is | New money? |
|---|---|---|
| Over €1 billion, 2021–2027 | EU cohesion funding for the European Arctic in the current budget period | No, already allocated |
| Nearly €100 million a year | Polar research through Horizon Europe | No, existing annual spending |
| €600 million since 2007 | EU support to Greenland, mainly education and skills | No, historical total |
| Around €260 million | Ten European Defence Fund projects addressing Arctic requirements | No, projects already funded |
| €107 million | Connecting Europe Facility investment in Greenland’s connectivity | No, described as “already invested” |
| €100 million | EIB and EIF support for SMEs in Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands under InvestEU | No, existing program |
| About €280 million, of which about €147 million EU | European Social Fund+ in northern Finland and Sweden | No, existing programs |
| €200 million, 2026–2027 | Global Gateway partnership package for Greenland | Described as “additional”; tied to the EU–Greenland–Denmark declaration of 7 September 2026 |
| 2028–2034 | ”Expanded Team Europe investment agenda” with Greenland in the next EU budget | No figure given |
Source: ICWWM
The takeaway is that the strategy creates no dedicated Arctic budget. The €200 million for Greenland—the only sum labeled “additional”—flows from the EU–Greenland–Denmark declaration signed during von der Leyen’s visit to Nuuk on 7 September. Real new money, if it comes, will be decided in the 2028–2034 negotiations.
A smaller question concerns what the €200 million actually covers. Does it include the submarine cable work, or is that part of the €107 million the strategy says the EU has already invested through the Connecting Europe Facility Digital “to advance Greenland’s secure and sovereign connectivity and the Pan-Arctic Cable vision”?
The €200 million package is meant to cover connectivity, renewable energy, critical raw materials, and economic diversification. The strategy separately envisions a Pan-Arctic Cable linking Greenland directly to Europe, with possible extensions toward Canada and Japan—so the overlap between the two is what remains to be clarified.
How much the Arctic will receive in the next budget also remains an open question. The Arctic Century will keep following the negotiations.