The 34th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference concluded its substantive programme with a wide-ranging debate on the future of the region. Chaired by Johannes Schraps, MP Germany and former BSPC President, and co-chaired by Antonina Nānasāwa, Deputy Speaker of the Latvian Parliament, the session brought together parliamentarians and experts to address the priorities that will shape the BSPC agenda: security, democratic resilience, environmental sustainability, and youth participation.
Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves opened the debate with a keynote on the Wise Persons’ Report regarding the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS). He contrasted the Council’s original mission in the 1990s—supporting fragile democracies and serving as a framework to “handle Russia”—with today’s reality, where all Baltic states except Russia are in the EU and NATO. With Russia’s suspension and withdrawal in 2022, Ilves argued the CBSS faces a stark choice between closure and transformation. He cited hybrid threats such as undersea sabotage, GPS jamming, harassment of officials, and ecological dangers from Russia’s “shadow oil fleet,” warning that neither NATO nor the EU has yet filled this gap. He noted that the member states opted for reform, assigning Poland’s presidency to lead the process.
Katarzyna Barcikowska, Chair of the CBSS Committee of Senior Officials, confirmed Poland’s role in steering the reform. She outlined three priorities: safeguarding infrastructure and security, advancing green shipping and biodiversity, and strengthening regional identity through youth and cultural cooperation. Russia’s war against Ukraine, she stressed, had reshaped the framework for cooperation, making solidarity and Ukraine’s integration central tasks for the CBSS.
Two expert contributions highlighted the democratic dimension of the challenges. Alice Stollmeyer, Executive Director of Defend Democracy, warned of a “triple challenge”: hybrid warfare, rising far-right extremism, and the dominance of global technology platforms. Without treating democratic security as seriously as military defence, she cautioned, Europe risks strategic dependence. Åsa Wikforss, Professor of Philosophy at Stockholm University and member of the Swedish Academy, examined how disinformation and algorithm-driven fragmentation erode trust in institutions. Citing Hannah Arendt, she argued that freedom of opinion is meaningless without reliable facts and called for regulation of disinformation as a defence of democracy.
The political debate reflected diverse perspectives. Bryndís Haraldsdóttir (Iceland) emphasised solidarity with Baltic partners and fundamental rights, including women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. Tiit Maran (Estonia) linked war and ecological destruction, urging integrated security and environmental policies. Kaspars Brišken (Latvia) called for EU-wide action on infrastructure and cyber resilience alongside research and youth engagement. Lars-Christian Brask (Denmark) welcomed Nordic unity in NATO and underlined Greenland’s right to self-determination. Staffan Eklöf (Sweden) concluded that compromise is democracy’s strength and argued misinformation should be countered with transparency and open dialogue, not censorship.
In their closing remarks, Schraps and Nānasāwa thanked participants and noted that the debate had crystallised the key priorities of the conference. These themes will be carried into the final resolution and guide the BSPC’s work in the year ahead.