No Consequenses for International Law

In opposition to the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana Norwegian Foreign Minister and Chair of the Arctic Council Jonas Gahr Støre stresses that the rapidly proceeding ice melting in the Arctic will not have consequences for international law in the area.

"It is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which regulates all such legal questions, Jonas Gahr Støre underlines according to Barentsobserver.com and thus rebuffing calls for a new international agenda for the region.

The implications from climate change were on top of the agenda in last week's EU meeting in Brussels. In a document distributed before the meeting, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner express fear for international security following the climate changes and subsequent crisis and conflict

The Norwegian foreign minister says to newspaper Aftenposten that it is "new and significant that the EU makes such a document". At the same time he stresses that he is critical towards the EU's apparent interest in a review of international law in the area following ice melting.

"There is no legal loopholes in this. We have the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which regulates these issues, he says to Aftenposten.