The "Europe" mission in Brussels for the 6e he national session on "Maritime issues and strategies" finally had to be held as a webinar due to the re-confinement imposed by the storm and the COVID spray that once again hit France and Belgium. However, thanks in particular to the support of Émilia Didier, IHEDN's correspondent in Brussels, our friends in Brussels who are involved at the heart of the European institutions were able to keep up with the schedule. Listeners were able to find out about the major maritime issues facing the European Union, the policies and strategies implemented to deal with them, and how France is cooperating with its European allies to build a Europe capable of meeting the challenges of today's world. As these challenges continue to grow with the return of the powerful states, their policy of fait accompli, less respect for international law and the erosion of multilateralism, the EU's action in this context is taking on an increasingly strategic dimension.
Claire Raulin, France's Ambassador to the EU's Political and Security Committee (PSC), put the web to good use on Monday morning, immediately immersing listeners in the European atmosphere. They were able to discover the growing importance of sovereignty concerns within the EU, the significant advances in security and defence, and the challenges posed by the forward-looking work being carried out as part of the 'strategic compass'. Vice-Admiral Henri Scricke, the French military representative to the European Union and NATO's Military Committee, emphasised the complementary nature of these two organisations in the military and maritime fields. He stressed the importance of taking into account the defence and security concerns of all the Member States and the need to anticipate by returning to the work of the "strategic compass". Finally, he showed how pragmatic and operational approaches far outweighed overly dogmatic positions, giving the example of the coordinated maritime presence (CMP).
The afternoon began with a round-table discussion on the EU's maritime security challenges and action plan, featuring Christos Theophilou from DG Mare (the European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs), Géraud Montagut from DG Mare's EEAS (European External Action Service) and Rear Admiral Jean-Marie Lhuissier, a specialist in information and communication systems. The audience had the opportunity to reflect and debate on a wide range of important subjects, including maritime cooperation between member states, the implementation of a maritime version of the permanent structured cooperation (PSC) adopted in October 2020, and the interoperability of member states' information systems.
At the end of the afternoon, Pierre Karleskind MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament's Fisheries Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Biodiversity and the Intercommittee on the Sea, gave a presentation on the implementation of the European Union's Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP). He explained at length to the audience the internal negotiation process within the Parliament and its growing influence in negotiations, as no agreement can be concluded without its ratification. He recalled the success of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the importance of combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Finally, his speech ended with some very rich discussions with the audience on the major challenges of Brexit, particularly for fisheries, where the issues at stake are a "distillation" of more global issues.
At the end of the day, the committees got back to their committee work, as the deadline for submitting the first version of their report in mid-April approached.
Tuesday was devoted more to speakers from the European institutions. A first round table on 'Permanent Structured Cooperation' (PSC) brought together Arnaud Migoux, Head of Sector at the EEAS, the Engineer General of Armaments Yves Caleca, Armaments Advisor at the EUPR and François Dupont from Naval Group. The audience was able to discover unsuspected advances in the field of defence that would have been inconceivable less than 10 years ago, such as the creation of the European Defence Fund (EDF) and the rise of this PSC in the operational and capability fields.  Â
Théo Barbe and Paul Avrillier, the EUPR's fisheries and transport advisors, then gave listeners an insight into how the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has helped certain fish stocks to recover and the efforts made by the EU to limit pollution from ships. All these representatives of France in Brussels contribute, each at their own level, to improving dialogue and understanding between the national and Community levels and to promoting France's vision, positions and interests to its European partners.
Félix Leinemann and Reka Rozsavolgyi, from DG Mare, then joined forces to lead the debates on the blue economy, for a sustainable maritime economy. Félix Leinemann spoke about the major issues relating to Europe's strategic autonomy and the challenge that the establishment of a circular economy represents for the EU. The challenge is to ensure the sustainability of value chains and to strike the right balance between the climate, the protection of biodiversity and the rational exploitation of the seas and oceans, while at the same time not distorting competition to the detriment of European businesses.
The second spoke about regional strategies by maritime basin, with a focus on the Atlantic strategy. She detailed the Atlantic strategic action plan adopted by the Commission in May 2013, highlighting its main priorities:
- promoting innovation and entrepreneurship ;
- ensure the protection and safety of the marine environment and coasts ;
- improve accessibility and connectivity
- finally, to create a socially inclusive and sustainable development model.
The auditors were able to discover a particularly impressive list of projects carried out within this framework.
Finally, Geneviève Pons, Director General for Europe at the Institut Europe Jacques Delors, brought the seminar to a close with a flourish by presenting the mission of the Jacques Delors Institute to the audience. Starfish 2030, designed to maintain, protect and restore aquatic environments, including those located on national territory.
It is structured around five themes:
- enrich knowledge and create an emotional bond,
- zero pollution,
- improve governance,
- regenerate marine and aquatic ecosystems
- decarbonising our oceans, seas and waters.
