Today, the Commission has adopted a strategy and an action plan for an Integrated Maritime Policy of the European Union.
- The sea, the maritime sectors and marine resources are essential for Europe's prosperity and well-being. We speak a lot about our stewardship for the earth. But isn't it ironic that we call a planet "earth" that is in fact covered by "sea" much more than by "earth"?
- So the challenge is obvious. Without combining our efforts in a common European Integrated Maritime Policy, we will not be able to ensure this future. This is why we have chosen the slogan for our new maritime policy: An Ocean of Opportunity. Let me briefly explain why we think the maritime dimension of the EU is so important:
- Europe has 70.000 km of coast line, which explains not only Europe's maritime past but also our current dependency on the sea.
- More than 40% of the population live in coastal regions, where more than 40% of our GDP is produced;
- Over 60% of the Europeans tourists chose our coasts for their holiday destinations, giving us the largest coastal tourism industry in the world;
- 90% of our external trade and more than 40% of our European domestic trade is sea-borne. This means that even land-locked Member States depend heavily on the seas.
- We have the strongest network of sea ports worldwide, and 40% of the world merchant fleet.
- The seas around Europe also provide us with 40% of the oil and 60% of the gas we consume.
- We produce state of the art technology on marine equipment and shipbuilding.
- And, last but not least, we have by far the most developed sector of offshore renewable energy in the world, with 95% of world investment in marine renewable energy being European.
- You can see that the European interest in maritime affairs is obvious; and it is obvious, too, that we need a European response that goes beyond the sectoral approaches we've had so far.
- We need an integrated maritime policy that brings everything together and supports our goals on jobs and growth, and on sustainable development, and that helps us achieve our goals on energy and on climate change.
- An Integrated Maritime Policy for the EU will help us realize the full growth potential of a maritime and coastal economy, which in many Member States already grows more strongly than the overall economy. That's what today's package is all about.
- The Commission's initiative today is part of our strategy to modernise Europe in partnership with Member States and help us shape globalisation and protect our citizens.
- It will promote new uses of the sea with important growth perspectives, such as blue biotechnology, offshore marine aquaculture and underwater technologies, as well as Environment-led industries.
- These industries are important, as our Maritime Policy aims at ensuring that the seas and oceans are managed sustainably;
- We need clean and healthy seas and oceans, for our wellbeing and as a basis for economic activity.
- We cannot afford maritime economic growth to have environmental degradation as its cost; we need to decouple one from the other. Otherwise we are going to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
- I am very proud that our Commission is launching today for the first time a truly all-encompassing framework, covering and linking up many sectoral policies.
- It's important that all other institutions and maritime actors take up this challenge and adopt an integrated approach too.
- Let me conclude by highlighting the exemplary stakeholder-led process that has helped us developing the vision and work programme for our maritime policy. We have had a one year-long consultation, which has yielded nearly 500 written contributions from all over Europe.
- Inside the Commission, ten Commissioners and many more services are involved.
- This cross-sectoral work has set in motion a culture change not only towards an integrated approach to maritime policy, but also in the way we prepare new policy for the benefits of our citizens and deliver concrete results.
- The oceans and seas are Europe's natural boundaries, but they also bind Europe together.
- Thank you, Joe Borg, for coordinating this excellent work, and now over to you.
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