Joe Borg to unveil EU maritime policy blueprint this week

E.U. Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner Joe Borg on Wednesday will unveil a Green Paper entitled "Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union: A European vision of oceans and seas".

Commission sources yesterday told The Sunday Times that the aim is to create synergies between the different chapters of maritime policy, including maritime transport, industry, energy, fisheries, marine environment and others, in order to stimulate growth and job creation in the EU's coastal regions.

They said that the publication of this Green Paper will trigger a consultation procedure with all the 25 member states, the European Parliament and interested parties, lasting until the end of June 2007. Eventually, the Commission will be publishing a communication summarising the conclusions of this procedure with proposals to develop, for the first time ever, an EU maritime policy.

The upcoming Green Paper is the result of work launched last year by a task force under Commissioner Joe Borg, and made up of Commissioners Verheugen, Barrot, Dimas, Hübner, Potocnik and Piebalgs.

The sources said that the Commission explains that the Green Paper on the future maritime policy seeks to address the challenges in relation to the oceans and seas "in a holistic and cross-sectoral way".

To date, policies relating to maritime transport, industry, coastal regions, energy production at sea, fisheries, the marine environment, socio-economic cohesion and other related areas have evolved in a partitioned way because no-one took the trouble of studying how they could be mutually combined or reinforced.

The sources said that Commissioner Joe Borg believes that the time has now come to put all these pieces together to form a new vision of how to manage the EU's relations with the oceans.

The Green Paper assesses the importance and the prospects for growth of the maritime economy and stresses that, in the context of surging globalisation, the maritime sectors must continue to base their growth on innovative products.

The paper places emphasis on the existing Community research and innovation programmes and sets out ideas for a more integrated approach encompassing the actions of member states. The Commission will advocate the creation of a research network and suggests the development of "maritime clusters" , including research activity, economic players, training bodies and public authorities concerned.

On the quality of life in coastal regions, the Green Paper looks at the role of the coastal regions in maritime affairs and that of maritime tourism. It presents a reflection on the best ways to manage relations between activities at sea and those on land, for mutual enhancement.

Sources close to the Commission said that since his appointment, Commissioner Joe Borg has put this Green Paper as one of his top priorities during his mandate.