{"id":41507,"date":"2026-05-25T13:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T12:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/?p=41507"},"modified":"2026-05-25T13:46:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T12:46:46","slug":"kiruna-declaration-4-0-a-joint-voice-for-northern-sweden-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/?p=41507","title":{"rendered":"Kiruna Declaration 4.0 \u2013 a joint voice for northern Sweden in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When Europaforum Northern Sweden met in Kiruna on 7\u20138 May 2026, the meeting concluded with the adoption of a new policy statement, the Kiruna Declaration 4.0. This marks an important milestone in strengthening northern Sweden\u2019s voice within the EU. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development of the EU. As early as 2009, during Sweden\u2019s EU presidency, the concept of territorial potential was highlighted and contributed to the development of European Union regional policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013, the Arctic Council emphasised that the Arctic is a living region. In 2023, Sweden once again took up its EU presidency in Kiruna, where the Committee of the Regions\u2019 Political Bureau adopted a declaration to strengthen Europe\u2019s northern sparsely populated areas. The Kiruna Declaration 4.0 builds on this tradition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full Kiruna Declaration 4.0 can be found here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A joint direction in changing times<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The declaration serves as a strategic compass for the ongoing work within the Europaforum Northern Sweden political network. At a time when the EU is negotiating its future budget and competitiveness, coordination is becoming increasingly important. The declaration sets out common principles for areas such as regional development, energy and infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013\u202fThere are many issues to monitor, and it\u2019s all about being quick. We are responding to some of these by establishing so-called positions within our working groups in Europaforum Northern Sweden. The declaration offers us an opportunity to capture a broader perspective that can guide us in our ongoing work, says Anders \u00d6berg (S), Chair of the Regional Executive Board of Region Norrbotten and rapporteur for Europaforum Northern Sweden.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anders \u00d6berg provided background on the Kiruna Declaration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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An open process with broad participation<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process has been characterised by participation. During the forum, participants were invited to contribute via a \u2018democracy forum\u2019, where perspectives from the political, business, academic, and civil society sectors were considered.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2013 It fosters participation and ensures that important perspectives are not lost but can be incorporated into the ongoing work, says Anders \u00d6berg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This engagement is seen as a strength in advocacy work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2013 Dialogue broadens our perspectives and makes us stronger when we drive change in the region, says Jonas Andersson (S), Chair of the Regional Development Committee in Region J\u00e4mtland H\u00e4rjedalen and Chair of Europaforum Northern Sweden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jonas Andersson presented the final proposal, which was then adopted by acclamation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the work on finalising the declaration has focused on prioritising the bigger picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 We appreciate all the fantastic contributions. We will still take note of points not directly included in the text and incorporate them in other ways, says Jonas Andersson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a time of great change, the declaration provides a clear direction: the development of the whole of Europe also begins in its northernmost parts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Europaforum Northern Sweden met in Kiruna on 7\u20138 May 2026, the meeting concluded with the adoption of a new policy statement, the Kiruna Declaration 4.0. This marks an important milestone in strengthening northern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engelska-nyheter","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41507"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41517,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41507\/revisions\/41517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}