Karmenu Vella - Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
Brussels, Launch Conference of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region
Ministers, MEPs, professor, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
I
am very happy and honoured to be here – first of all because I'm very
much interested to get to know some of the people I will be working with
in the next few years.
And secondly because I have the feeling
that I'm in the right place at the right time. This is a key moment for
the prosperity of the Adriatic-Ionian region. What happens from now on
will determine if we go from words to deeds, if we manage to propel the
region out of the crisis and if we can manage to put its economy back on
track.
This meeting shapes the future. And I want to do my bit.
My
colleague, Commissioner Corina Cretu, has just explained that for this
to happen – for the Strategy to work - all countries need to align their
policies and their funding, national and regional, towards it. And it's
true: the ball is now in your court. You are the key actors. The
Commission can help you navigate, and we will; but you are the ones
steering the ship.
So my job here today is for me to motivate you
to get going full steam ahead. We know that there are many advantages to
the sea-basin approach; the success stories of the Baltic and other
strategies are proof of that. And when I talk about advantages, I am
referring to the economic, environmental and social advantages which are
all intertwined between them.
It is through our efforts towards a
stronger economy and a healthier environment that we can generate jobs.
Good and suitable jobs that are key to improve the standard of living
of our citizens.
So where do we start from?
For the region’s economy the biggest opportunities clearly comes from tourism.
A
more resilient sector is a massive revenue earner and job creator. And
it also produces result quickly. The product is already there; but to
compete and win the race against other emerging world destinations, we
have to do better on a number of support services such as:
accessibility… quality of service… infrastructure… comfort… warmer
hospitality, promotion and marketing, a healthy environment, and so on.
The
time is now for regions, port authorities, marinas, nautical industries
and local communities to get together and to discuss and explore new
opportunities
to:
to:
- create the necessary transport links;
- increase off-season arrivals by offering cultural, religious or culinary routes;
- include hinterland destinations, so that those economies can also benefit from the intense influx of tourists;
- set up a network of well-serviced marinas;
-
and advertise the region and improve its image, not only through
individual marketing but also through common and joint branding.
This and other economic sectors will make a big positive difference towards a better life for our people.
However, we cannot have a sustainable tourism plan without adequate regards to the Environment.
So we also need an environmental effort.
The
Action Plan looks into the whole life-cycle of marine litter because
marine litter affects not only tourism but also fish, birds and
biodiversity in general. It identifies appropriate actions, which will
have to involve your scientific community and public administration:...
- we still know far too little about litter. How it travels on the surface and underwater, in the form of micro-litter;
- there is a clear need to exchange data and share best practices among countries;
-
we should promote alliances between research and business to rethink
packaging, reduce the use of plastic and develop bio-based and
biodegradable plastics that quickly decade in the marine environment. In
this respect there is a new industry which is starting to be developed;
- we need to raise public awareness on the consequences of too many layers of packaging.
Fishermen
are very well placed to collect litter and discarded fishing gear, and
the EU is already financing three actions in the Adriatic–Ionian sea
through the project “guardians of the seas”.
But then we also need
to ensure that litter can be properly received, stocked and processed
on land, which requires dedicated research and investments in port
facilities. So there is still a lot to be done on the environmental side
of marine litter.
Speaking of research, the
Adriatic Ionian is already at the forefront in robotics for ocean
observation and exploration. Nothing should stop it from pioneering also
the research of marine bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical and
cosmetics purposes; or from developing deep-water floating platforms for
offshore wind turbines, or new technologies for switching from diesel
to electric vessels. These technologies are part and parcel of blue
growth and are capable of pushing the technological frontier very far
and very fast.
I do not hesitate to say that now is the time to increase research capacity. And take it out of the out of the lab and into the market with the help of academia, together with the public and private sector.
In
any kind of planning, SPACE is always a very important element of which
different activities have to compete. We need to resolve how competing
activities such as transport, cables, offshore installations,
aquaculture farms or tourism can sustainably coexist in the
Adriatic-Ionian Sea basin.
This is the rationale of the new
Directive on Maritime Spatial Planning. Economically, it reduces
unwanted costs for businesses and creates legal certainty.
Environmentally it allows us to monitor impacts and keep them in check.
For
EU members such a plan will have to be implemented and transposed into
national law, with the designation of competent authorities, by 2016.
Even
though non-member states are not obliged to do so, they too seem to
think that a coherent trans-national approach makes better sense. The
extensive partnership of all 7 riparian States within the ADRIPLAN
project is a true example.
In any case spatial planning at sea is
something rather new, for both Members and non-Members of the EU, so
implementation will be a challenge for all.
It will imply breaking
out of our siloes and working across sectors, across national
administrations and across governance levels. It will mean that the
European Cooperation Programme for the Adriatic-Ionian will have to
support capacity building in the third countries and promote cooperation
and data sharing among the basin’s local and national administrations.
Luckily, all these activities produce jobs and
can be financed through a plethora of funds and programs: the European
Maritime and Fisheries Fund, the European Transnational Cooperation
Programme for the Adriatic-Ionian region, the regional funds, the 7th Framework Programme and Horizon 2020 plus a few more.
In
other words the money is there. The political will is there. The moment
could not be more favourable for you to take the bull by the horns and
start implementing the Action Plan straight away.
If we are to
channel the funds towards clear, well-defined, concrete results,
obviously this needs to be done at sea-basin and macro-regional level.
It is only through a genuine partnership between governments, business
and local communities that we can turn the tools and funds at our
disposal into concrete economic benefits for the local people.
And
through the economy we will witness other significant geo-political
developments that have to do with less fragmentation, more integration
and more civil society capacities - all elements that are relevant for a
sound Mediterranean approach as well.
This Strategy is the true
laboratory where the basin's future is made. It could easily become a
model for others and I know for sure that the world is watching.
Just
as I know that this Strategy and this Action Plan, if it goes from
words to actions, will make the Adriatic-Ionian Region a much more
vibrant economic and sustainable region.
Thank you.
