The European Council has endorsed an EU maritime security strategy as a framework for effectively and comprehensively addressing the EU’s maritime security challenges.
The objective is to secure the EU’s maritime security interests against risks and threats in the global maritime domain, such as cross-border and organised crime, threats to freedom of navigation, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or environmental risks.
The strategy covers both internal and external aspects of the Union’s maritime security in a cross-sectorial and comprehensive approach.
European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki said: “My goal is to rekindle the maritime economy, but that goes hand in hand with security: no businessman will invest on a maritime activity if off-shore installations are not safe or trade routes are not secure.
And today’s threats call for a coordinated response. This strategy is lean, smart and comprehensive; it allows our nations to pool resources, be cost-efficient and work hand in hand.
But our work does not stop here. The next crucial step is to develop concrete actions and projects together, and I look forward to it.
This is not only a responsibility which we cannot shirk but is also what the EU model is all about.”
The main aims of an EU Maritime Security Strategy are:
(1) to identify and articulate the main strategic maritime interests of the EU;
(2) to identify and articulate the maritime threats, challenges and risks to the strategic maritime interests of the EU; and
(3) to organise the response, i.e. provide the common policy objectives, common principles and areas of common support as the backbone of the joint strategic framework in order to create coherence for the diverse and wide array of sector specific maritime policies and strategies.
[mappress] Press Release; June 26, 2014