European Union (EU)

The European Union is a unique economic and political union between 27 EU countries that together cover much of the continent.

Seas and oceans are drivers for the European economy. The ‘blue’ economy represents roughly 5.4 million jobs and generates gross added value of almost €500 billion a year. Blue growth is the strategy to harvest the potential of sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole. The EU’s common fisheries policy aims to make sure that fishing and aquaculture (the farming of fish under controlled conditions) are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable so as to provide a source of healthy food for current and future generations of EU citizens. Its goals are to foster a dynamic yet sustainable fishing industry, including the conservation of resources and protection of the marine environment, while ensuring fair standards of living for fishing communities.

The EU also plays an important role in promoting the responsible and sustainable exploitation of seas, both in Europe and globally. The EU Coastal and Marine Policy provides the legal impetus for the EU to protect and clean up its coasts, seas and oceans as part of an integrated strategy to manage them sustainably. The European Union adopted two instruments, the 2002 EU Recommendation on Integrated Coastal Zone Management and the 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive (or Marine Directive), which offer a comprehensive and integrated approach to the protection of all European coasts and marine waters.

Several institutions are involved in making decisions at EU level, in particular:

• the European Parliament, which represents the EU’s citizens and is directly elected by them;
• the European Council, which consists of the Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States;
• the Council, which represents the governments of the EU Member States; and
• the European Commission, which represents the interests of the EU as a whole.

Regional Seas and EU

Regional Sea Conventions support the implementation of the marine directive by improving regional and cross-regional coherence of national implementation.

The four European Regional Sea Conventions that are part of European Union include:

1. The OSPAR Convention. The European Community is a party to the Convention.
2. The Helsinki Convention (HELCOM). The European Community is a party to the Convention. The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region covers a wide range of issues including prosperity, safety, accessibility, but foremost is the recovery of the Baltic Sea environment. 

• Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) cross-sectoral cooperation and partnerships on clean and safe Baltic Sea shipping
• HELCOM ACTION project (Actions to evaluate and identify effective measures to reach GES in the Baltic Sea marine region) - Co-financed by the EU and coordinated by HELCOM, the ACTION project is designed to contribute to the update of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan by 2021 and can also be used by those HELCOM Contracting Parties that are EU Member States in updating and implementing their MSFD Programme of Measures.
• COMPLETE - is an EU INTERREG Baltic Sea Region project aimed at minimizing the introduction and spread of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens by shipping through the development of consistent and adaptive management strategies and tools for the Baltic Sea region by addressing both major vectors: ballast water and biofouling.

3. The Barcelona Convention (UNEP-MAP). The European Community is a party to the Convention.

• The Mediterranean region is implementing the Towards achieving the Good Environmental Status of the Mediterranean Sea and Coast through an Ecologically Representative and Efficiently Managed and Monitored Network of Marine Protected Areas (IMAP-MPA Project).
• The Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development 2016-2025, which involves a highly inclusive process to translate the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs to the regional level (Mediterranean Action Plan)
• Implementation of Maritime Spatial Planning in the Mediterranean: the Supporting Implementation of Maritime Spatial Planning in the Western Mediterranean region (SIMWESTMED) and Supporting Maritime Spatial Planning in the Eastern Mediterranean (SUPREME) projects.
• Mediterranean Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach, in Coherence with the EU MSFD” (EcAp MED II) project.
• Marine litter MED 2016-2019 project and  The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (EU MSFD)

4. The Convention for the Protection of the Black Sea of 1992 – the Bucharest Convention.

Cooperation frameworks between Regional Seas and European Union:

5. The ACP MEAs programme, a joint partnership between the European Union, the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
6. Regional cooperation on marine pollution preparedness and response in the North-West Pacific (North-West Pacific Action Plan)
7. Cooperation in the Danube–Black Sea Basin between the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (Black Sea Commission) and the International Commission on the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR)
8. Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy 2050 and the African Ocean Governance Strategy (UN Environment)
9. Update of the design of an integrated Regional Ocean Policy for the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (CPPS)
10. Cooperation between the Abidjan Convention and the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission
11. Cooperation between OSPAR and the NorthEast Atlantic Fisheries Commission and other relevant intergovernmental organizations, with particular reference to Area-Based Management
12. The European Union and other organizations have continued to contribute to further development and effective implementation of the Tehran Convention and its Protocols and programmes

For more, please visit their website: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/index_en.htm

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