From Oslo to Wismar: following the NATO meeting in Oslo, Foreign Minister Baerbock will today travel on to Wismar. Germany currently holds the presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and Foreign Minister Baerbock has invited her counterparts from the CBSS member states to Wismar on 1 and 2 June. More than almost anywhere else in Germany, this Hanseatic town on the Baltic coast embodies the close ties in the Baltic region, but also the region’s turbulent history over the centuries.

Impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine

The Council of the Baltic Sea States is a regional organisation established in 1992 and based in Stockholm. It currently comprises eight states on the Baltic Sea – Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Sweden – as well as Iceland, Norway and the EU. The foreign and security policy situation in the Baltic Sea region has changed dramatically as a result of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and this new security policy reality will naturally play a part in the meeting in Wismar. Russia’s membership of the CBSS was suspended by the other members following the attack on Ukraine, and Russia subsequently left the organisation in May 2022.

The eleven remaining members decided at that point to use the CBSS even more as a forum for political dialogue and practical cooperation. Since its inception, the Council of the Baltic Sea States has evolved into a broad network of inter-state cooperation in many spheres affecting the Baltic.

Priorities of the German CBSS presidency: Energy, youth exchange and munitions recovery

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The meeting in Wismar will look, among other things, at the three priorities of Germany’s one-year presidency of the CBSS. One common goal is to strengthen energy security in the Baltic Sea region through the expansion of renewable energies, particularly offshore wind. The foreign ministers will be discussing this issue during their working dinner in the City History Museum in the Schabbellhaus. The Baltic Offshore Wind Forum, at which government and business stakeholders from across the Baltic Sea region discussed the challenges involved in expanding wind power and energy infrastructure in the Baltic, took place at the Federal Foreign Office in early May 2023. The aim was to identify concrete ways in which to ensure expansion. For instance, companies from Germany and the Baltic agreed at the Forum to expand the grid infrastructure to transport electricity from offshore wind farms in the Baltic.

Another item on the agenda will be how to strengthen the resilience of our democratic societies, in particular through education and youth exchanges. The foreign ministers of the CBSS member states will meet young people’s representatives during the meeting. From 21 to 25 May, at the CBSS Youth Ministerial in Berlin, young people from the CBSS member states collaborated to develop projects to strengthen societal resilience in the region. They will present their projects in Wismar.

Munitions and ordnance on the seabed, especially from the two World Wars, are a dangerous remnant of the Baltic Sea region’s history. The CBSS Ministerial will therefore begin with a discussion and presentation on techniques for recovering underwater munitions by research institutions and businesses in Wismar’s Old Harbour.