ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Northern Dimension initiative proposed by Finland to the European Union (EU) and approved as part of the European Union Luxembourg agenda in December, 1997. The real challenge faced by the EU Northern Dimension is to ensure that when the initiative assumes concrete form the same negative trends will not occur. The EU must become more active in getting these institutions to better coordinate their activities. The initiative was on the agenda at the EU summit in Luxembourg in December, 1997, so that it now enjoys the status of an official EU initiative. The roots of the Northern Dimension as Finland’s official EU political initiative are usually considered to go back to the speech given by Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen in the ‘Barents Region’ conference in Rovaniemi on 15.9.1997. Nordic financing institutions, notably the Nordic Investment Bank, also should get more closely involved in Northern Europe.
