(Finance) – The Commission European and theHigh Representative have adopted a Joint Communication on an enhanced strategy for safety maritime of the EU to ensure peaceful use of the seas and protect the maritime sector from new threats. They have also adopted an updated action plan that will implement the strategy.
Maritime safety is of vital importance to the European Union and its Member States. Together, the EU member states make up the largest exclusive economic zone combined in the world. The EU economy depends to a large extent on the safety of the oceans. More than 80% of world trade and about two-thirds ofworld supply of oil and gas they are mined at sea or transported by sea. Up to 99% of global data flows are transmitted via submarine cables. The global maritime sector needs to be secure to fully exploit the potential of the oceans and the sustainable blue economy. The EU intends to strengthen the wide range of instruments it has to promote maritime security, both civil and military.
Security threats and challenges have multiplied since the adoption of the EU Maritime Security Strategy in 2014, thus necessitating a new and strengthened intervention. Long-standing illegal activities, such as the piracyarmed robberies at sea, the trafficking of migrants and the human trafficking, arms and drug trafficking and terrorism remain crucial challenges. However, these are being accompanied by new and evolving threats related to increased geopolitical competition, climate change, marine environmental degradation and hybrid and cyberattacks.
This is an opportunity to promote solutions sustainable to the many maritime security issues facing the EU and the international community. It is also an opportunity to strengthen the EU’s role and credibility internationally. Recent geopolitical developments, such as Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, urgently remind us that the EU must strengthen its security and enhance its capacity to act not only on its own territory and in its waters, but also in the neighborhood and beyond.
The Commission and the High Representative will invite Member States to endorse the strategy and implement it within their remit and will publish a relation on the progress achieved within three years of the approval of the updated strategy by the Council of the European Union.