Experts: Creative thinking needed to map Council of the Baltic Sea States' future

Authors of a new report about the future of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) cooperation format say "out of the box" thinking is needed as the organization has gradually lost its purpose over the last 20 years.
Founded in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the main purpose of the CBSS was to increase integration between the Baltics and Nordics and to provide a space to engage with Russia. The countries came together to find solutions to regional common problems – such as human trafficking and environmental issues.
All countries bordering the Baltic Sea – the Nordics, Baltics, Poland and Germany as well as Iceland – are members. Russia left the format in 2022 after it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, removing a key goal of the organization.
Estonia holds the rotating presidency in 2024-2025 and has commissioned "wise persons" – former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Lithuania's former foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis – to write a report about the format's future. Both men interacted with the council during their times in office.
At a roundtable discussion at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday (January 20), Ilves said the CBSS' "raison d'être" has faded over the last 30 years as all of the members have joined other cooperation formats, such as the European Union and NATO.

In 1992, only Sweden and Germany were EU members, while only Denmark and Norway were NATO allies. The CBSS was a way to "anchor" the region together, the former president said.
"You could say it lost its raison d'être in 2004, or maybe last year when we had the entire Baltic Sea region – with two minor exceptions – within the NATO fold. The two exceptions being Kaliningrad oblast and the far end of the Gulf of Finland. So naturally the question is what do we do? Do we keep this organization? What function does it have?" he told the audience.
One of the most important aspects Ilves and Landsbergis will study is the relevance of the council. That all Baltic Sea states are members of the CBSS is seen as its strength.
This is unusual as while there are many cooperation forums across the region, they often include different members. For example, the NB8 only includes the Nordics and Baltics; Norway is not a member of the European Union; and neither Germany nor Poland are members of the Joint Expeditionary Force.
But the CBSS' duties also now overlap with other organizations such as the EU – especially after the launch of the Baltic Sea Strategy, which aims to develop the whole region.

Landsbergis also pointed out the changes over the last three decades, saying today the Baltic states are no longer seen as newcomers.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion, there is a "way more trust in the region" and more information is being shared than ever before. The council has become "institutionalized' he said, not just a political grouping.
Landsbergis said this leads to one of the report's biggest questions: "What should work where?"
"Which parts of our cooperation should work under the EU's umbrella, which ones would work in NATO, which ones work bilaterally? Are there things where we need to review the current legal environment and maybe strengthen our regional cooperation outside the CBSS? These are the things that really require a review," he said.
Ilves said he had no preconceived notions about the outcome of the report, but "out of the box" thinking is required. "We can think a little more creatively," he said.

"The possibilities can be broad, they can be from there is no need for this at all, and we can offload it and outsource it to the EU or to something else, to we have to restructure and refocus the whole thing on something else," he said.
Landsbergis said the purpose of the report is to make sure "something happens" and it's findings are not just ignored.
"Anyone who reads the news knows there's a lot going on in the Baltic Sea. As opposed to the Soviet period when it was the Sea of Peace," Ilves joked. "It's not a Sea of Peace today, as we know."
Russia is seen as the biggest concern by all members, Landsbergis added. But the panel did not know if dealing with hybrid threats should be the CBSS' role.
The deadline for the report, which is being drafted in cooperation with the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS), is May 2025. It will be presented at the CBSS foreign ministers meeting.
You can watch the full discussion below.
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Editor: Helen Wright