White Paper on the new Baltic Civilization

Baltic Connections

• 7 min read

This text was prepared by the Foundation “Baltic Connections”.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to my friends Phd Maciej Druto and Mr. Krzysztof Kłusek from the Foundation “Baltic Connections” for their creative contribution to the preparation of this text.

Quotes from Internet research
• Influences and development:
Mediterranean civilization was shaped by cultural and trade exchanges between various peoples. The development of maritime trade, colonization, and contacts with other cultures, including Egyptian and Mesopotamian, contributed to the development of the characteristic features of this civilization.
• Heritage:
Mediterranean civilization is the source of many achievements that influence contemporary Western culture, including language, literature, philosophy, law, architecture, and art. The influence of this civilization can be seen in contemporary Europe, North and South America, Australia, and southern Africa. Moreover, virtually all significant voyages of discovery for the modern world, whether east or west, began in the Mediterranean.

And what about our Baltic Sea cultural heritage? Researchers from the University of Bradford, supported by representatives of institutions from various parts of Europe, are conducting the SUBNORDICA project, for which the European Union has provided €13.2 million in funding. The project aims to find traces of civilizations that disappeared beneath the Baltic Sea. We'll see what science tells us.

Quote:
There is no single "North Sea civilization," but historians and archaeologists study the ancient cultures and peoples that developed in this area and its shores, including the Maglemos (Mesolithic) culture, the culture of early agricultural societies, and later the advanced Viking (Norman) societies, who dominated the region from the 8th century AD, creating rich trading and settlement communities. Wikipedia

INTRODUCTION
It is the end of 2025. A bloody war is raging on Ukrainian territory between Ukraine and the Russian aggressor. Countries located near this conflict are trying, in various ways and to varying degrees, to help Ukraine persevere and defend the countries of the Baltic Sea basin (BS) from escalating war. Not all EU leaders understand this, which is why the understanding of the European Union's issues is taking on a regional character. Furthermore, changes in the strategy of the US, NATO's largest and most powerful member, have led to many previously unquestionable geopolitical concepts needing to be rethought and reformulated.

Besides global policy, we have regional policy. Environmental protection, understood as the postulates contained in the European Union's Green Deal documents, is at the forefront. However, unfortunately, this does not provide a set of concrete actions to protect and improve the state of our environment in order to improve the well-being of the people living in the Baltic Sea region. EU documents are pan-European in nature, while specific threats and problems are imperceptible, meaning regional or even local in nature. A case in point is the enormous inconsistency between official European regulatory agendas and the growing problems of the Baltic Sea, both as a reservoir and as a basin for numerous rivers. This is a painful example, as hundreds of thousands of post-war "time bombs" lie at the bottom of our sea, while their presence, impact, and condition remain largely unaddressed.

Sea and air piracy, affecting critical infrastructure and shipping in neighboring democratic countries, has also intensified in the Baltic region. Aggressive false flag operations against the democratic Baltic states are also emerging. These actions are inadequate, ineffective, and fail to eliminate perpetrators from international trade, as the rigid corset of international law, including the Convention on the Freedom of the Seas, is exploited by aggressors to build strategies that bypass the interests and security of those who respect this law.
We are also observing the growing, unexplained phenomena accompanying mass legal and illegal immigration. Because they are undefined and interpreted in various ways, these phenomena are difficult to regulate and manage. Ongoing discussions, as usual, focus on immediate effects and temporary remedies, rather than on the causes and legal solutions to prevent these phenomena. A proper systemic assessment of the phenomenon, coordination of possible legal actions to protect the interests of states and societies, and a unified, effective preventive and defensive strategy are "drowned" in a maze of regulations and an EU directive "from another era."

This image of contemporary Europe is reminiscent of various periods in the history of the emergence of Mediterranean civilization, when the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea fought for hegemony, colonized others, and also engaged in constant trade, exchanging not only goods but also elements of their culture and technological achievements.

Today, we no longer think, as we once did, about plundering or colonizing neighboring countries, but we treat trade and cultural exchange as a matter of course and as a reliable way to increase the security and wealth of societies.

The Baltic Connections Foundation has prepared this "WP" to begin a discussion with the countries of the Baltic Sea Basin on how to leverage the accumulated knowledge, capital, and intellectual potential of individual countries to develop new thinking about regional cooperation and development at an entirely new level, a level of true community of interests.

We believe that there is a chance for the beginning of a new civilization – a Baltic Sea civilization.
Is such thinking justified? Can we truly reach a new level of broadly defined development for the Baltic Sea basin countries? Does together mean better and safer? It seems so. It was our ancestors in this area who established cooperation within the Hanseatic League to defend their interests, their common interests.

The historical reference to Mediterranean civilization is not coincidental, as its emergence demonstrates the complexity of this process, but also the impact of individual groups and leaders, which over the centuries proved beneficial to millions of people and radiated throughout the world. Without forgetting the costs and sacrifices of many lives, victims of war and slavery, we must nevertheless seek, based on these historical experiences, paths to development without sacrifice and aggression.

Simply put, trade, and the related transport and storage, are the elements that should be analyzed first, as it is the oldest, most rational, and most orderly sphere of life in the global economy. Exceptions, such as the US trade policy in 2025, which could cause short- or long-term disruptions, should not affect the proposed discussion and action, as we should look many years into the future, not to a single politician's term.

Let's assume that the Baltic Sea Region, as defined in the EU document, COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region ACTION PLAN [COM(2009) 248 final], plus other accompanying documents, provide a geographical dimension and legal foundation. They acknowledge the specificity of the region and its potential.

This is certainly a starting point.

In the Baltic Sea Region, countries with coastlines have seaports of varying sizes. Large ports represent a huge concentration of economic activity, environmental threats, and threats in the event of war or other acts of aggression. These phenomena are not imaginary but real, especially when it comes to acts of sabotage against international critical infrastructure.

Without delving into the details of what could be done to avoid these threats, we propose a discussion on the path of development that, while creating new solutions, also proposes ways to prevent emerging threats.

What we propose:
The main pillars of development are:
• Construction and development of small (local) seaports
• Development of bases and services for tourism and recreation based on the resources of the Baltic Sea
• Introduction of political solutions (e.g., in the form of international treaties) that limit military threats through well-balanced coastal defense systems and coastal infrastructure, as well as the development of a modern defensive navy.

• A joint, long-term, coordinated program to clean up the Baltic Sea and its tributary rivers, securing resources to implement individual elements of such a program.
• Support for Baltic Sea countries in their activities in other geographical areas (e.g., Greenland or archipelagos)
• Analysis of the existing international legal system and its modifications in light of new threats and challenges that the creators of the convention did not consider 50-60 years ago.

For the local economy, small ports serving local traffic in the Baltic Sea are, in our opinion, worthy of discussion. We know that approximately 90% of global goods trade is carried out by sea.

Let's go back to history again:

  1. Seaports were established where water transport routes (river estuaries), road transport, and later also rail transport intersected. Ports generally handle bulk goods, and these goods require economical, technologically adapted means of transport and open or closed storage facilities. 2. Investments in hardened waterfronts and the construction of increasingly larger ships have resulted in increasingly larger tracts of land being excluded from the urban plans of port cities. For example, the container port in Gdańsk, located on artificial land (Świnoujście), results in a huge concentration of equipment, structures, goods, technologies, and people.
  2. We propose the construction and development of small ports using completely new technologies, so that they do not become behemoths that pollute the environment in various ways. For example, port facilities that can be relatively easily dismantled and relocated. Ports that, in war situations, can serve as transshipment bases or host landing sites for specific military groups. Ports supplied with utilities generated through renewable energy technologies and with minimal impact on the marine environment, as well as recreational infrastructure, for example.
  3. To ensure these ports can efficiently transship various goods, we propose designing and manufacturing new generations of port equipment, including containers for the transport of various goods at sea. Creating a pool of such equipment and containers within the Baltic cooperation framework is the simplest form of cooperation and development. Technical specifications for such equipment and containers can be prepared after analyzing potential cargo flows within the proposed regional cooperation. For example, consider small-size containers (for the transport of local supplies, including temperature-controlled containers).
  4. Automated cabotage, electric or sail-driven propulsion, and AI-controlled navigation and operation.
  5. Eco-friendly passenger shipping along the coasts.

Development of Tourism and Recreation

  1. Global climate change has led to a new dimension of relaxation on the Baltic Sea, both in summer and at other times of the year.
  2. We know that the popularity of the Mediterranean among tourists stems primarily from its clear, blue waters. Can we make the Baltic Sea resemble the Mediterranean in terms of purity and water color? We can't, but we can significantly improve the condition of the Baltic Sea waters and increase acceptable levels of purity and transparency. We know how to harness the forces of nature to produce energy, so we can certainly purify the Baltic Sea waters and increase water exchange with the Atlantic. This requires large infrastructure projects, planned and developed jointly by the countries of the region. As a foundation, we have already undertaken preliminary conceptual work on a river cleaning project.

These are just examples of topics for discussion.

In Poland and other countries of the Baltic Sea Region, we have sufficient intellectual, scientific, and economic potential to solve the main problems limiting economic development and security in the Baltic Sea region. We realize that there are many challenges and unknown problems to solve before we begin the project. But we believe that such challenges are worth taking on.

We invite those interested in our proposal to contact us.

Baltic Connections Foundation
Author: Paweł Dąbkowski
pawel.dabkowski@baltic-connections.com

January 2026