Brussels, 20/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - In order to mark the first European Maritime Day and the beginning of integrated European maritime policy, the European Commission convened, on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 May, a conference grouping all stakeholders of the maritime sector. The event gave rise to great expectations and several concrete decisions were announced, mainly the inclusion of marine research programmes in the 7th EU framework programme. This first conference, which the Commission plans to follow up during the next European Maritime Days, made it possible to make a comparison of regional, sectoral, public and private approaches to the challenges currently facing the maritime sector.
Given the changes that have taken place in recent years in the maritime sector, long considered as a sector in decline, the European Commission adopted last October an action plan for implementation of an integrated European maritime policy (see EUROPE 9520). Placing emphasis on regional application of the policy, this first European Maritime Day has allowed account to be taken of all the initiatives already taken and to thus evaluate the possible synergies between various sectors (industry, fisheries, education, environmental protection, etc). Speaking on the first day of the conference, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the French secretary of state for European affairs, presented four areas on which France will establish this policy during its EU presidency (second half of 2008). “France will be fully involved in this policy and at the European Commission” and, “as the Portuguese and Slovenian EU Presidencies wish” will be “just as determined” to implement its commitments, Mr Jouyet said. The strengthening of maritime governance with regular meetings at political level and the setting in place of an informal framework for exchange of information and good practice will be the main aims of Paris. Maritime surveillance with, in time, a view to constituting a European maritime surveillance network in each major EU basin (North Sea, Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea) will be the second area of work. Pre-figuration of this network could be the Commission's flagship project to be developed on the Mediterranean and on its Atlantic approaches, Mr Jouyet said. Speaking of the recent acts of piracy off the Somalian coast, Mr Jouyet called for an approach within the context of maritime surveillance to be carried out within the UN framework. He also stressed the need to back up the initiatives on observation and surveillance, and the collection of information and infrastructures for research and surveillance, such as the GEO (Global Earth Observation) or GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). The GMES Forum, organised in Lille from 16 to 17 September, will provide an opportunity to present the first applications of oceanographic and coastal surveillance, he said. The setting in place of Galileo (the first European programme for satellite radio-navigation) and its maritime surveillance applications will allow maritime policies to be better integrated, especially by establishing a link between the maritime sector and the space industry. Protection of the marine environment will be the third priority of the French EU Council Presidency which plans to organise several meetings around this theme, mainly a BIOMARINE seminar which, in October, should bring all players concerned together. The relevant initiatives of marine and maritime research will complete implementation of the policy. “Our knowledge of the marine and maritime environment still remains seriously lacking”, Mr Jouyet said, adding that this strategy should be more integrated into the Lisbon Strategy. These four objectives as well as integrated maritime policy will be the focus of the informal meeting of European affairs ministers, he went on to say. The Czech and Swedish Presidencies will continue the work in this field. José Manuel Silva Rodriguez, Director General of the DG Research at the Commission specified that research issues in this field should be included in the 7th framework programme. He also encouraged the creation of maritime “clusters” (multisectoral poles of activity), especially in the “regions that are lagging behind, like the Mediterranean”.
Joe Borg, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs, noted the progress made since the Blue Paper was issued in October 2007. There has been the adoption of numerous proposals amongst them that to combat illegal fishing, a communication on a European ports policy and a communication on re-assessing the social regulatory framework for seafaring jobs in the EU. In the coming months, he said, the “Commission will have an upcoming marine and maritime research strategy in the maritime sector and a communication on offshore renewable energy to look forward to”. “We are also finishing a set of guidelines to encourage member states and other decision-makers, namely the maritime regions of Europe, to insert the principles and the approaches of the new integrated maritime policy into their own set-ups and frameworks”. Jean-Yves Ledrian, Vice-President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), described this policy as an “essential stake” and called for greater coordination in setting up the highways of the sea. “We consider that the political decisions (on the subject of highways of the sea) have been taken and announced” but, on the financial (and regional) level, implementation of the project remains a “pie in the sky”. Speaking of the social aspects of maritime policy, Mr Ledrian expressed an idea that was welcomed by the Commission, that of setting in place an “exchange system, a sort of Vasco da Gama” for young seafarers that would be the equivalent of the student exchange programme, Erasmus. In parallel to the conference, in Strasbourg, the presidents of the European Parliament, Hans Gert Pöttering, the Council, Janez Jansa, and the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, commemorated this day by jointly signing a joint tripartite declaration establishing the “European Maritime Day”. Signed 510 years to the day from Vasco da Gama's arrival on the Indian coast, the declaration recalls the maritime nature of the European continent. The EU's maritime regions account for about 40% of its GDP and of its population and 22 of the 27 member states are coastal or island states, the declaration points out. (A.By./L.C.)