The CBSS Vision Group

On 4-5 December 2017, the CBSS Vision Group met in Stockholm to discuss the future role of the CBSS in the region. The CBSS Vision Group includes representatives from the 11 CBSS Member countries plus the European Union and will meet 3 times.

The decision for establishing the group came in Reykjavik on 20 June 2017, when the Foreign Ministers of the CBSS Member States and a High Representative of the European Union met and agreed on the need to maintain and strengthen the role of the Council of the Baltic Sea States towards 2020 and beyond. They invited the CBSS to appoint an independent group of wise persons to lead the way, including representatives of civil society.

The task of the independent group will be to elaborate a report with recommendations for a vision for the Baltic Sea Region beyond 2020 and on the future role of the CBSS and the means to expand its impact as a forum for political dialogue and practical cooperation in the region.

The members of the CBSS Vision Group are:

Denmark: Dr. Tobias Etzold, Researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs

Estonia: Mati Vaarmann, Ambassador

European Union: Petteri Vuorimäki, Senior Expert in the Russia Division of the EEAS

Finland: Astrid Thors, Former Minister of Migration & European Affairs of the Republic of Finland

Germany: Hans – Jürgen Heimsoeth, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Kingdom of Sweden

Iceland: Thorlindur Kjartansson, Economist & Journalist

Latvia: Žaneta Ozoliņa, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Latvia

Lithuania: Neris Germanas, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania

Norway: Öyvind Nordsletten, Ambassador

Poland: Rafał Wiśniewski, Ambassador

Russia: Alexander Vladimirovich Prokhorenko, Former Member of the Government of St. Petersburg, Former Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg

Sweden: Matilda Dahl, Senior Researcher at Uppsala University