New Hanseatic League

A handy, casual way of referring to an informal group of ministers from 8 European Union Member States (MSs). Diplomats from the MSs may refer to it as "the HANSA".

Formed in 2017, the group brings together ministers from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden. The group may have emerged from the “Northern Future Forum” of mostly Nordic and Baltic states convened annually, starting in 2011, by UK Prime Monister David Cameron until his resignation in 2016. The UK has, pointedly, not been invited (even been refused an invitation) to more recent meetings.

The group acts as a discussion forum and a pressure group within the EU. The approach of the group seems (2018) to focus on (free-)trade and (balanced-)budget questions. It seems their first position paper - diplomatically a non-paper - was probably signed by Finance Ministers in February 2018, concerned the future of Economic and Monetary Union and can be seen on the Finnish Finance Minstry's website.