Draft Council conclusions on the integrated maritime policy - Main contents

Document date	19-11-2008
Publication date	12-08-2009
Reference	15926/08
From	Presidency
To	Delegations
External link	original PDF
Original document in PDF

COUNCIL OF Brussels, 19 November 2008

THE EUROPEAN UNION

15926/08

POLGEN 121 AG 37 RELEX 928 ENV 849 PECHE 319 POLMAR 1 COMPET 495 SOC 695 TRANS 410

NOTE from : Presidency to : Delegations Subject : Draft Council conclusions on the integrated maritime policy

Delegations will find attached draft Council conclusions submitted by the Presidency.

This draft will be examined by the "Friends of the Presidency" Working Party during its meeting on 26 November 2008 with a view to its adoption by the General Affairs Council.

________________________

ANNEX

DRAFT COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS INTEGRATED MARITIME POLICY

• 1. 

  The Council, recalling the guidelines defined by the European Council on 14 December 2007, welcomes the work conducted on the basis of the European Commission’s contributions 1 ,

  with a view to implementing a truly integrated European maritime policy. It reaffirms that an integrated approach to maritime issues constitutes a major objective, since the coherence of sectoral action undertaken by the European Union needs to be reinforced by integrating it into a comprehensive vision of the seas, oceans and coastlines.

• 2. 

  Within this framework, the Council welcomes the progress noted in several sectoral projects

  related to maritime issues, particularly the:

• Launch of the reform of the common fisheries policy and the adoption of conclusions on

the communication by the European Commission on the role of the common fisheries policy in the implementation of an eco-systemic approach to marine environment management;

• Progress towards adopting the maritime security package; • Conclusions on the European strategy for marine and maritime research; • Conclusions on the [GMES] initiative for marine and maritime science; • Work on sanctions to tackle pollution caused by vessels.

1 - Green Paper “Towards a Future Maritime Policy: A European Vision for the Oceans and

Seas”, 7 June 2006;

• - 

  Blue Book “An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union” and Action Plan,

  10 October 2007;

  • - 

    Guidelines for an Integrated Approach to Maritime Policy, 26 June 2008.

  It underlines that it is in the interest of the Member States to pursue their collaboration on all these policies. Moreover, it encourages the Member States to begin the work required to

  implement the framework directive “Strategy for the Marine Environment” 1 , which

  constitutes the environmental pillar of integrated maritime policy.

• 3. 

  The Council also welcomes the [forthcoming] launch of the Atalanta naval operation in

  support of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1816, 1814 and 1838, that will help improve maritime security off the Somali coastline. The Council is pleased by the European Defence Agency’s commitment to enhancing European maritime surveillance capabilities. It recognises the important role played by the navy in the field of maritime surveillance and maritime safety in general.

• 4. 

  The Council emphasises the opportunity presented by the cross-cutting approach to

  governance, surveillance and knowledge issues. In this connection:

− The Council believes that more in-depth reflection at Community and international level

must be given to governance issues in order to ensure a long-term integrated maritime policy. It invites each Member State to promote best practices in terms of integrated maritime governance based on the debate opened by the European Commission’s “Guidelines for an Integrated Approach to Maritime Policy”.

− The Council underlines the comprehensive and integrating nature of surveillance, in all

its components, ranging from the surveillance of human activities to the observation of the marine environment. It specifies that it is necessary to step up cooperation in this area in each Member State and between the different actors involved. It invites the Community’s agencies to pursue their cooperation in this field and recalls the importance of taking into account regional specificities, including the involvement of non-EU countries and organisations.

1 Directive 2008/56/EC i of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008

establishing a framework for Community action in the field of marine environmental policy.

− The Council stresses the importance of developing knowledge and observation networks

in marine environments, particularly to support the implementation of the framework directive “Strategy for the Marine Environment”. It recalls the contributions of the integrated maritime policy to the Lisbon Strategy as regards sustainable development based on knowledge of environments and requests Member States to continue to cooperate in the research field, in line with the European Commission communication

on a “Marine and Maritime Research Strategy” 1 .

• 5. 

  The Council takes note of the recent meeting of the High Level Focal Points, which in

  accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, enabled discussion of the political aspects of the major lines of integrated maritime policy and particularly its cross-cutting components, namely governance, surveillance and knowledge. It encourages forthcoming presidencies to continue to promote an integrated maritime policy upon this basis.

• 6. 

  The Council also requests the European Commission to pursue the implementation of the

  action plan, with a view to preparing the progress report it must present to the European Council by the end of 2009.

1 COM(2008)534 i Final “A European Strategy for Marine and Maritime Research - A

Coherent European Research Area Framework in Support of a Sustainable Use of Oceans and Seas”