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EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
ENVIRONMENT
Directorate D - Water, Chemicals & Cohesion
ENV.D.2 - Water and Marine
Brussels, 21 December 2007
CB/GV
Marine Strategy Stakeholder Meeting (Brussels, 8 November 2007)
– Summary Conclusions
The meeting was attended by approx. 25 stakeholder and Member State representatives and 4 representatives from Commission services.
The documents and presentations related to the agenda are stored publicly on the marine strategy CIRCA site at:
Introduction and agenda
In view of the relatively small representation of regional seas conventions, it was proposed to keep the agenda item on regional seas developments short (cf. below) and to aim to conclude the meeting before a lunchbreak. An amended agenda was adopted accordingly.
An NGO representative requested that more time would be attributed to a discussion with representatives of regional seas conventions on their contribution to the marine environment strategy at a next meeting; Commission representatives concurred that this was their intention.
EU Marine Strategy – developments since the last Stakeholder Meeting in June 2007 and next steps
A roundtable allowed participants to air questions for clarification or issues of concern. Clarifications were sought about the relation of the scope of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in relation to that of the Water Framework Directive, and the relation with the overall maritime policy ('environmental pillar').
The Commission informed participants in detail about progress made with regard to discussions on the Marine Strategy in the European Parliament and in the EU Council of Ministers, highlighting some of the aspects of the Marine Strategy Directive which had received attention in both legislative institutions. The Commission provided an overview of the main issues that it considered were outstanding between the Council and the Parliament in view of the scope for arriving at a second reading agreement by the co-legislators.
The meeting discussed the outstanding issues and exchanged information and views on:
– Marine Protected Areas – representatives of sectors that extract mineral resources from the seabed and sub-soil contributed how they would wish to see the use of MPAs framed in the directive;
– Spatial planning, role of the Commission – a representative of the ports sector drew the attention to the need for a level playing field in Europe with respect to opportunities for different economic sectors. The European Commission could oversee how Member States safeguard the level playing field and organise the exchange of information on best practice and quality.
– Good environmental status – After the vote in the European Parliament's ENVI committee the approaches of the EP and of the Council seemed to be less apart; clarification was still needed of the ways in which pressure-related information would contribute to the formulation of good environmental status. A Member State representative stated that there was a relation between the overall level of ambition of the directive and the actual ambitions that Member States would aspire to achieve by the target date, insofar as the stricter the legally binding character, the more cautious Member States might be in determining the precise characteristics of GES in their marine waters.
– Role of stakeholders in the implementation of the Directive – The European Commission indicated that stakeholder organisations would have a role to play in the development of the strategies at regional and/or sub-regional level. This would require their organisations to be ready for this challenge.
– The current status of the marine environment – A representative of the European Environment Agency drew the meeting's attention to the recently published Europe's Environment – the fourth assessment (see http://www.eea.europa.eu/pan-european/fourth-assessment/marine-and-coastal-environment), which had indicated that "the overall picture in 2007 has hardly changed from that in 1995 [the date of the Dobris assessment]: pressures on the seas and coasts continue to be high." This indicated a need for clear objectives to improve the quality of the marine environment.
The open exchange of views enabled stakeholders to get a clearer picture of the questions that were currently still being negotiated by the co-legislators[1].
Marine Strategy Framework Directive – Implementation issues
The Commission presented an overview of the implementation milestones that the Directive prescribed, leading to the establishment of full marine strategies for Member States marine waters. The step-wise elaboration of an initial assessment, determination of good environmental status and establishment of targets and associated indicators, followed by the setting up of a monitoring programme, concluded the 'preparation' phase. Programmes of measures would then be put in place and made operational to achieve or maintain good environmental status. Maintaining a strict timeline for all these elements would require a systematic and thorough approach from the start.
EU Maritime policy – status of progress and next steps
Iain Shepherd (DG Fisheries & Maritime Affairs, Maritime Policy Task Force) presented the maritime policy package of 10 October 2007. He highlighted the interactive approach that the Commission had chosen to develop the package, based on extensive stakeholder contributions received during the 1-year consultation period following the June 2006 Green Paper. The interactions with the marine environment strategy were many: they ranged from sectoral issues such as air pollution from shipping, to marine spatial planning and data system networking. The Commission services expected the synergies between the overall maritime policy and the environmental policy directions from the Marine Strategy Framework Directive to deepen gradually.
Regional sea developments
Regional cooperation in the Mediterranean Sea
A representative of the MED POL programme under the Barcelona Convention briefly presented information on the development of a road map for the application of an ecosystem-based approach in the Mediterranean Sea. This project was a testing ground for the policy approach of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in a Mediterranean Sea context.
The Commission indicated its intention to reconvene a stakeholder meeting at an opportune moment during the first half of 2008.
The meeting was closed at 2.00 pm.
[1] Note: the co-legislators found agreement on an overall package of amendments at their third trilogue on 29 November. The European Parliament voted this package of amendments on 11 December: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2007-0595. The final decision making steps under the co-decision procedure for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive are expected to be taken shortly.
DG Environment
Unit D.2 Protection of Water and Marine Environment
Office BU-9 3/174 (visiting address: building Beaulieu 5)
B-1049 Brussel
+ 32 2 296 85 83
gert.verreet@ec.europa.eu