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"Check against delivery"

Dear Minister,

Members of Parliament,

dear colleagues,  

dear friends of the ocean,

I want to first thank the French Presidency for organising this Summit and bringing us all together to talk about one of the most important organisms of our planet - the ocean.

A Summit not just to emphasize the plight of the ocean and seas, which we all know very well, but also to decide how we can tackle those challenges.

Speaking of a Europe of the Sea, I will touch upon three aspects.

Number one: Having the largest maritime space, comes with the moral and practical duty to protect the ocean – within its own borders and beyond.

Number two: As a top-5 producer of wild and farmed seafood – ranked before the USA and Russia – Europe has the responsibility to use marine resources wisely, sustainably.

Number three: As the third largest economy in the world, we have the opportunity to develop sustainable solutions at scale, and influence technological development, production methods and consumption patterns across the world – to the benefit of our ocean, and our planet at large.

Let me address each of these three aspects with some examples.

First, Europe that protects the ocean. This is at the core of the EU's international ocean governance agenda. Pursuing a cross-cutting and integrated approach, built on strong partnerships, multilateral dialogue and international cooperation, is the way forward. We all have a collective and individual responsibility to protect the ocean.

Today, I would like to highlight two elements in that regard.

First, the ongoing negotiations on Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction. Beyond the undisputed importance of the agreement in itself I do believe that its successful conclusion could have a positive spill-over effect on other major international negotiations, such as those on the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Second – the importance to safeguard the fragile ecosystems of the poles. The EU has been campaigning since many years to establish much-needed marine protected areas in Antarctica, for example. We can't give up on this, even though we continue to be faced with staunch opposition from China and Russia.

The second role for a Europe of the Sea refers to Europe that uses the marine resources sustainably. I want to highlight our strong commitment to sustainable fisheries. In the EU, we have the commitment – even the legal obligation – to manage our fisheries so that all fish stocks are healthy and productive. Member States increasingly understand and accept this approach, as despite certain short-term reductions of fishing opportunities, in the long run, we only stand to gain.

We now have to increase our efforts in more complex and sensitive areas, in particular the Mediterranean. And we must do a better job at reconciling fisheries with biodiversity and ecosystem protection, and we will soon present an action plan to that end.

Outside our borders, we must continue to drive improvements in the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, and support the development of robust scientific advice in those organisations.


Moving on to the third role for a Europe of the Sea – a sustainable blue economy and ocean knowledge.

Last year, we presented a new strategic vision for our blue economy policy, aligning it with the European Green Deal objectives of decarbonisation, circular economy, zero pollution and nature restoration.

There is enormous potential for the sustainable blue economy to help achieve those objectives – whether it is through offshore renewables, blue biotech, aquaculture, responsible tourism… you name it. The blue economy can transform our mainstream economy.

But at the same time, we also saw the urgency of doing away with some of the existing practices, business models, and production methods. Take the example of maritime transport. Nowadays, shipping relies almost entirely on highly polluting fossil fuels. Going for zero will mean we have to develop an entirely new fuel eco-system in which renewable and low-carbon fuels are being produced, distributed and used by maritime operators.

Similarly drastic changes are needed in other sectors of the blue economy.

This giant leap, this transformation, can only be successful if we massively invest in research and innovation, and in ocean knowledge.

In other workshops we have already explained our Mission Ocean research project, whose core objective is to scale up solutions to restore the health of our marine and aquatic ecosystems. And we also mentioned how we are moving from our existing data infrastructures and ocean services to a European Digital Twin Ocean. The digital twin is a simulated environment in which all ocean players can perform impact assessments, explore different scenarios, and much more. The uses are really unlimited.

Conclusion

This is my take on a Europe of the Sea. Let's use occasions as this one not just to showcase what we have done, but also to raise the ambition, our own ambition and that of our international partners. Because protecting the ocean and seas will ultimately depends not just on our actions, but also on our capacity to inspire and lead others.

Thank you.

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