State of the protection of aborginal people's cultural identities in the politics of European Union with an example of North Scandinavia

Saami are the only indigenous people in Europe. Today they live in tundra, taiga and coastal zones in the far north of Europe. Their reach cultural identity is endangered. The Saami are the inhabitants of four countries: Norway, Swe­den, Finland and Russian Federation (Kola Peninsula). Preserving the Saami culture and languages is a part of European Union policy. The Saami culture is closely related to the nature so the policy of environment protection is also a part of preserving endangered Saami cultural identity. In the article the au­thor gives examples of regulations and realized projects financed by EU funds that aim for improving living conditions of the Saami living in traditional way.