just past the hour here in the russian capital this is our time for you headlines tens of thousands demand justice across spain as a workers' protest cuts and labor reforms with a general strike at the massive industrial action is seen as a tough test for the country's young government becomes just a day before it's expected to announce some more painful sturdy measures. grips the u.k. ahead of a possible tanker driver strike and with fuel costs escalating london paris and

washington all consider releasing oil reserves to push down prices. and moscow news its opposition to foreign military intervention in syria as a divided arab league debates how to end the violence the group will give its backing to a u.n. sponsored peace plan while calling on the opposition and president assad to both fully comply. up next will not see it is spotlight this time though as the earth runs low on natural resources we speak to the secretary general of the e.u. our pick for him to see if the polar region could contain all the what remains of the world's oil reserves this is out. mission to free accreditation a free concert for judges is free. range louche free risk free.

to try and free. young old free broadcast plug in videos for your media projects and free media oh god hard times. tell all your honor roll film to spotlight the interview show on policy i'll do another entry my guest on the program is staff an. american scientists have calculated that more than twenty percent of the world's oil and natural gas could be found below the arctic are its explorations there is more challenging than anywhere else but as we are running out of more accessible sources many countries are turning to the north the us and canada the european union and russia all want

their share and take and to sell is the arctic becoming the scene how the future breaks we're asking the secretary general of the european union arctic for steffan . with increases in technology and high oil prices arctic is becoming more attractive in terms of natural resources but the region's legal status is still in dispute and it should be determined before three fledged exploration begins one of the most oil rich areas in the arctic is going along the north of ridge scientists estimated has about ten billion tons of gas an oil a few years ago geologists proved its link to russian territory. was plain over the shelf on the same geological expedition they planted a russian flag on the sea. bad exactly.

i was there for welcome to the show thank you very much for coming to our studio today and also in first of all from time to time as we read the news we get the impression that the arctic really seems to be becoming the next scene of the next great battle where states compete over the rich natural resources is this real is this really happening i'm afraid that's not the whole truth. so i think. if. if you look at the actual thanks we will see in the arctic a person of corporation among the states along the regions a lot more competition so just last week we had a meeting in a seminar with in the region for a story and in brussels and he used the slogan high north low tensions and that isn't the road to fix them. sometimes in the press perceive an issue of competition although obviously competition happens among companies or among other

activists competing for license and licenses or other developments in the uk so a very. theories the are some problems that me experience during this competition that you have to tackle in your in your work you think you have the future. definitely definitely the arctic is changing drastically and not tomorrow already today and. this year it was ice free last year two gentlemen sailed. on on a trip following the footsteps of rhode island and. it took them a couple of months by road amundsen had become number of years too so you see interesting changes and obviously there is not only the effects of climate change it's also the. changes in technology that make things resources shipping lanes tourism or more easily doable and accessible. so they are

issues to be addressed no doubt well actually some just stood that global warming is making or oil and gas in the war accessible and is heating up the debate over who owns which part of the riches spotlights little timmy the has for. the arctic is believed to contain quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas the melting ice is a nightmare to environmentalists but at the same time the promise of huge potential profits to businesses global warming also exploration and development of previously in excess of book and you resources in the area. russia the us canada denmark and norway have zero voice their coins to a piece of the arctic reaches three of the five nations in their hopes on the allotment ass of reach russia was the first to submit to the you when it's going

for the underwater mountain range in two thousand and one a punch to the reach was an extension of the russian continental shelf the un asked for more evidence russia is not alone in collecting and all of the other are sick nations are doing the same to prove their rights to parts of the disputed territory the russian scientists have so far gone further than anybody else in their research as they reached in sea bat at the north who in two thousand and seven together some poles of the shelf. apart from the diplomatic and scientific in the arctic all of the countries have been paying more attention to the military presence in the region that has sparked a google dispute under this is actually beginning of an arms race. well our reporters of course the big expert in the arctic problems so any comments

any objections to what you just heard. and yeah i mean it's true that certain parts of the arctic are disputed but if you if you look at the overall map actually you will you will realize that most parts of the arctic are under dispute it's in the region of the waters or in the exclusive economic zone i mean there's. this period secure over a couple score you are the any there's certainly there's no the worst of it is that anything that's there's no doubt but. the disputed areas are fairly limited and indeed there are disputes so it's not a matter of conflict or even military conflict therefore u.n. mechanisms are in place and therefore evidence needs to be provided by the states and swayer geologists and other scientists are active and un called the commission

. basically will give recommendations on what belongs to them but you will you will find also a much more a pattern of cooperation and agreement the biggest parts of it was disputed until september last year. in the barents sea between russia and norway and actually that's. border got solved in agreements signed spying that we did. prime minister and the russian president actually it was a great move that we're finally did sign this agreement with long. it lasted for decades are there any other arctic related disputes that we have now as significant as the russian or dissipated no there there is one minus as significantly comes to say the overall quantity the overall size and none as significant when it comes to the possibility for exploration or exploitation to power and see a seed it is relatively shallow and ice free so that there was

a reason also i believe ok well you mentioned you mentioned the military aspect but actually these stockholm international peace through institute is as optimistic as you are in saying the recent study shows that a military conflict in the arctic is very unlikely but meanwhile canada then mark a no we must clean up their military force in the region and this is a fact one. it's simple very simple to answer you have a tremendous. increase for example in tourism shipping last year the arctic council signed the first brining agreement on search and rescue so somebody must provide the capacities to safe in case of a nice cruise ship with five thousand people on board is running into difficulties . and if you compare the capacity and of course they are before it's very

very limited and also in order to implement loss also environmentalists you need to have capacity to have an overview what's going on and to be able to observe it fried by your if. you are truly military buildup in the hurricane is for providing for tourism then you should buy mine also that the commissioning of the russian newest fourth generation submarine unit will go to be that before was planned to be commissioned in the. in the pacific fleet is now going to be commissioned in the north so what may be the reaction to that what of course will be a great contribution to terrorism but what will be the reaction of nato countries about the european can it could be a great contribution interesting if they open up for that to david cameron. would be an interim threats or did you think there may be a reaction because this is

a move you indeed indeed i mean it's nations are dealing with this in a fairly different way. and it's all about some arrangements here but also we should remember that all the nations around the arctic have declared in the declaration in greenland that they are all committed to the international order of his media international law of the sea and all their actions show that they're going to comply with it but of course it's a lot about. securing the borders not necessarily against your neighbor but there is a lot more shipping developing in the arctic it's not only tourism we have a tremendous to create only for the russians called an order in the sea route of the north east passage and that requires all kinds of capacities but no dogs. in particular europe looks looks at the arctic just as much as the states around the arctic we hope for

a peaceful development. of you short one well the latest u.s. exercises in the military exercise in the arctic it was called cold response to twenty twelve which actually use sixteen thousand troops or fifteen now i nations and it was called for simulated combat terror threats then mass demonstrations in the snow ice biting wind. well who does need to see is potential enemy. except terrorists and demonstrators i mean any well mitt romney he called russia enemy number one so so so do you think that nato especially european countries still regard russia. i'm not in the wiser resume of the candidate or the possible candidate of the republicans. and well it would be interesting to interview him when this is but i can guarantee you that amongst the

european nations and in nato. there are obviously different attitudes towards russia. when it comes to certain certain fields and so relevant sectors but overall russia is perceived and it's also treated as a partner to colleagues are sitting there in brussels and the need to russia go cooperation council and working jointly and in particular when we look at the arctic yes there are security issues but it's not the classical. cold war game of the east against the west you will actually the reason was this question is is that i do really think that it's an adequate spending of money an exercise like that in the arctic even the major military budgets they have been spending something i think well it's my wild guess we're talking to staff and where respect to general how the european union. spotlight will be back shortly after the break

so stay with us nowhere. well the. science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've got the future covered.

welcome back to spotlight now good love and just to remind you that my guest on the show today is staff and web site three general of the european union arctic forum so for a we have a. question came in from one of our listeners here in russia and amazingly russians watch r t in english one thing this always amazed me that they do they even write letters so what he's interested in is this the creation of the e.u. arctic forum mean that brussels wants to formulate a coherent european policy in the arctic region. indeed we are a part in contributing to that when we started to work. for the european union's hollands report on the arctic i was appointed to a stupid weisel to iraq with her german i mean. and we planned from the very beginning that you are calling for room to be not only cross country

across party but also across the issue platform where on a holistic basis or engagement our interests and our contributions to the arctic are to be discussed and from the very first meeting on the e.u. often forum has also functioned as a rich builder of getting together actors from europe and the arctic in brussels it goes from politics science business and the region just to make sure that the knowledge the expertise and the interests of those over groups are present in the political debate and so so so so we we are looking forward to having a european coherent paean arctic strategy very indeed indeed i hope that the european commission which is preparing a document towards the end of summer under the danish chairmanship of the u. is coming back into the european union's parliaments

a report on the arctic which basically was the last major step in formulating a more clear list of priorities of our engagement and also highlighting how we already contribute today to be another one hundred political side of. this problem norway's foreign minister said lately that no way he had no choice i quote but to leave in the arctic well is brussels ready to recognize this special rule of law we which is not even member in settling the europe you know the policy. well. i believe norway definitely has to making a major contribution and has its impact also on the formulation of an e.u. policies norway is very tightly. connected with the e.u. through the agreement. they just had a major research going on there and no doubt norway is a very important actor

a very european actor also in the arctic. but. it will be the e.u. institutions role to formulate. it's a new policy and it will be a policy that will be affecting just several areas from research environment resource. transfer words that are relevant to european union and there are no doubt norway just as much as russia is a very important partner well it's been reported in the wires that norway supports the application for permanent observer status on the arctic council does the e.u. recognizes the leading. of this surge as nation in the in the arctic issues yes in our report we took we elaborated score quite a bit on the under the legal and political basis of the of the arctic recognizing

the special role of the arctic council and obviously the member states of the arctic council and we should not forget the three out of eight. member states in the arctic council are member states in the european union i think as a candidate country and. we have a number of member states who are already today of service permanent observers in the arctic and since the e.u. which its policies has having an impact into the arctic we don't make sense to involve it also as a permanent observer as well as we talk there the canadian hunters continue to hunt the seals. and they are. and they are regularly criticized sharply by the e.u. since liar and. hunkies by the canadian government to who. allows that well do you think that because of this sharp criticism canada may block the admission of the e.u.

to the articles. well it's no doubt the seal hunting issue is it's a major issue between the e.u. and canada and also with greenland. legislation was passed on a on a trade ban on seal skins. with the exemption actually actually of indigenous. tribes they seal skin that was hunted by indigenous. and that's obviously had a devastating effect on certain communities at least in the arctic and particularly in greenland and so on in canada but we should not forget that the legislation which is very much the same regulation was passed by the u.s. in the seventy's i'm not aware of any major dispute between canada and the u.s. in that regard so. it's no doubt we should be should have a say elaborate on the issue and and see what can be done but yeah it was due to

a certain political inferences of animal protection lobbies in our us at this legislation was passed and they are also i can argue. at a time when the e.u. arctic forum was not yet in place and not get active so that was also the reason why a holistic picture of the effects and side effects that the regulation might have was maybe not present in the debate among the poor materials do you think we need a precise legal and political framework for the arctic circle to be established by the articles. well you have. numbers of regulations in place the basis of it all is the united nations commission of to see you have several sectorial regulations and several regional regulations and also international ring organizations like very important the i mode international maritime organization

which is working on a mandatory polish shipping code for ya think so that is underway and and no doubt with the challenges and with the opportunities coming up in the arctic. that will be taken down the road and there are several steps to follow but i believe. it is more practical and the arctic needs fast reaction to do that that is a building on the existing framework and on the existing legal places then to shape something totally new out of the blue there is the e.u. supports we project. drilling in the i think well for example those of greenland in no way. well the you say it's the most extend not having legislation in there in that field and when it does like in the oil and gas safety regulation

which would be applicable to norwegian legislation for the agreement norway. has to agree to rights are right for exemption. we do already today have a major contribution by arctic oil and gas which is supplying about one third roughly of european union's energy supply already today so as consumers and also as investors our companies are research institutes are engaged while the e.u. itself is not so to say providing any or any particular research money for for some say development of offshore well the consequences of the accident that the deepwater horizon they i mean the oil spills years they've showed up as the devastating results of human error why would the really poorly developed safety plan so should they force the companies to wise their plans

for the honesty and to to mind the safety measures in the guarantees they give to the countries before they start on projects. well i'm not a technical specialist not an engineer and all those related issues but obviously from i heard and learned is that the but i still feel the effects of good engineering through legislation if indeed indeed but the point is the point is that legislation was in place in the gulf of mexico it was not a bait the implementation didn't work so it's a question of implementation mechanisms on the one hand and no doubt i mean in the arctic you have very special conditions so things need to be handled very carefully . although it's also argued by certain scientists for example from the north radio instance you would know the confidence that you would hit in the arctic you also have positive effects of making things less harmful. but yup look at the

norwegian example where they established is integrated management for certain so an integrated space and so on. which is very much also doubled by the european union's integrated maritime policy taking into account needs of tourism local population fisheries or any gas there is a very well developed management plan but it can always be a paid it's no doubt. maybe maybe we can think about using those sixteen thousand sutras trains for appropriate observing the demonstrations in the in the icy conditions maybe we can really use them to keep an eye on and observing the safety measures so then you go i believe city lights are more useful in this regard thank you thank you very much for being with us and just to remind you that my guest today was a step ahead of where the generals on the european union are. and that's it for now from all of us here if you want to have your sales partner or have someone in line

you think i should until next time to drop me a line at powder enough pads at the t.v. . and let's keep spotlight is the movie that. with more friends going to comment on what's going on outside washington i'm told they're staying on the artsy and safe here. and. trying to move on to. her.

people. yes. thank you.