Once regarded as a zone of peace, the Arctic has moved to the centre of geopolitical competition amid an expanding US footprint, Russia’s longstanding presence and China’s emergence as a global power. For Europe, this should not come as a surprise. The region is hardly a new frontier; the EU already has a presence there through its three Nordic member states: the Kingdom of Denmark (without Greenland), Finland, and Sweden. Indeed, the European Arctic’s vast resource wealth – from hydrocarbons to critical minerals and marine proteins – already forms part of Europe’s economic backbone and could further shape the continent’s strategic autonomy in the future.