The European Union
Crucial for the EU and Member States for effective coordination
European Maritime Security Strategy (EMSS) by Ana Gomes MEP, Member of the SEDE Subcommittee and Substitute in the LIBE Committee, Strasbourg/Brussels
The European Union is to adopt, most likely in December, the first European Maritime Security Strategy (EMSS). The EMSS will seek to integrate the assets, capabilities and instruments that already exist in the maritime security and maritime safety fields in order to effectively implement a security strategy on the sea, in the European neighbourhood and elsewhere. As agents for peace and security globally, the Union and its Member States cannot ignore the risks, threats and opportunities that the seas and oceans entail and they cannot continue to waste resources and capabilities by failing to work together.
synergies linking the safety and security dimensions, because the threats to European security and interests are also multifaceted and demand a comprehensive approach. These threats stem, on the one hand, directly from purely security-related problems, such as terrorism, organised crime (involving the trafficking of human beings, arms and drugs) and piracy, which de facto impacts on the safety and freedom of navigation, and, on the other hand, from environmental factors and human action with respect to the environment, such as pollution, spilling disasters, over-exploitation of and competition for resources, etc.
Enable effective coordination In a report of the European Parliament (EP) Subcommittee on Security and Defence on “The Maritime Dimension of the Common Security and Defence Policy” recently adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee, I seek to outline the problems that currently hinder the ability of the EU and its Member States to deal with maritime security/safety challenges. There is an urgent need for effective coordination between Member States and the EU, and most notably, its specialised agencies. And it is urgent to put into practice the “pool and share” injunction that the financial/economic/budgetary crisis has made even more pressing with respect to European security and defence assets and capabilities in general, which obviously include those needed to face challenges at sea. The EU’s naval and maritime assets and capabilities are currently concentrated in certain Member States and are also scattered throughout a multiplicity of instruments and EU bodies, leading in practice to lower leverage, poorer implementation and diminished cost efficiency at European level. In times of economic and financial strife in Europe this is a cost burden that simply should not be tolerated - it is time for effectiveness, comprehensiveness and coordination. Europe needs to get its act together in order to enhance the security of citizens at home and in far away places, and to protect the freedoms of navigation and access that are essential for pursuing its economic interests and way of life. And Europe must go beyond a merely defensive endeavour: it needs to pro-actively sustain the vast and diverse resources (biological, mineral, economic, scientific, etc.) that can be drawn from the sea and may become a source of development and wealth for mankind. A consistent EMSS must call for and deliver on pooling and sharing. And it must be soundly anchored in multifaceted
ATALANTA – successful but limited Operation Atalanta off the coasts of Somalia in the Indian Ocean is the first naval mission to be conducted under the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and clearly illustrates the integrated and comprehensive approach required to deal with what initially seemed to be a mere maritime challenge: it was launched to fight acts of piracy against merchant shipping and to secure WFP deliveries to the people of Somalia. It was soon realised how much the overfishing and waste dumping by foreign fleets made possible by the lawlessness in Somali waters and territory had encouraged local communities to engage in piracy, the proceeds of which also feed terrorist activity in the region. Security and judicial arrangements with neighbouring countries were soon also needed in order to ensure that captured pirates would be tried
Ana Gomes MEP Member of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, the Subcommittee Security & Defence, and a Subs titute for the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. Ms Gomes was born in 1954 in Lisbon. In 1979 she graduated in Law from the University of Lisbon where she also received a diploma in Community Law (INA) in 1981, as well as a diploma from the ‘Institut International des Droits de l’Homme’ (Strasbourg) in 1989. From 1982–86 she was diplomatic adviser to the Portuguese President before being posted to the Permanent Mission to the UN and International Organisations in Geneva (1986–1989) and to the Embassies in Tokyo (1989–1991) and London (1991–1994). In 1995 she became Head of Office of the Secretary for European Affairs (1995 – 1996) before becoming Member of Portugal’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York in 1997–1998. From 1999-2003 she was Ambassador of Portugal to Jakarta.
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