Annexes to COM(2020)329 - New approach to Atlantic maritime strategy - Atlantic action plan 2.0 An updated action plan for a sustainable, resilient and competitive blue economy in the EU Atlantic area

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dossier COM(2020)329 - New approach to Atlantic maritime strategy - Atlantic action plan 2.0 An updated action plan for a sustainable, resilient ...
document COM(2020)329 EN
date July 23, 2020
Agreements towards effective prevention, preparedness and response to deliberate and accidental pollution

►Promote cooperation among sectors for a coordinated at-sea and shoreline response

4.GOVERNANCE OF THE ACTION PLAN

4.1.COORDINATION

Political coordination is in the hands of the participating countries’ designated ministers responsible for maritime affairs. The Member States define the broad political guidelines (including the geography of the Atlantic strategy), take stock of implementation and emphasise ownership of the initiative. The Member States may decide, in consultation with the European Commission, to expand membership of the Atlantic strategy to any interested State.

Operational coordination is ensured by the Atlantic Strategy Committee that acts, within its functions, as a decision-making (executive) body of the action plan and ensures proper involvement of representatives of the coastal regions (in line with the respective constitutional framework of the EU Member States). Representatives of the relevant funding and financing bodies, as well as other bodies, can be invited as observers on a case-by-case basis (e.g. based on the agenda of the meeting). The European Commission is a standing member in this Committee.

Dedicated working arrangements will define the exact modalities, roles and rules of procedure in the governance bodies.

4.2.IMPLEMENTATION AND REPORTING

This action plan is an invitation to the coastal regions, private sector, researchers, national public bodies and other actors to start designing projects that respond to the goals. Existing and new partnerships in the EU Atlantic area should use the umbrella of the action plan to exchange knowledge and innovate.

To enable effective implementation, a number of key conditions must be met, with clear decisions taken at an early stage. These conditions are the following:

·Member States must endorse the revised action plan before it can be implemented; the participating countries must acknowledge that the action plan priorities cut across policies, ministries and levels of government; they set priorities, take ownership and responsibility, align policies and funds at national and regional levels, and encourage the participation of regional authorities, private investors within existing mechanisms and frameworks and provide the relevant means and resources, based on a country’s capacity;

·the Atlantic Strategy Committee periodically reviews and updates (i.e. defines and updates the priority areas of) the action plan and proposes/approves flagship actions and may label projects;

·the European Commission promotes a strategic approach at EU level, including coordination and, to the extent possible, funding alignment with existing EU-related initiatives and instruments 24 relevant for the pillars and agreed actions;

·governments monitor and evaluate national progress at country level as appropriate, including with the support of the Atlantic assistance mechanism, and provide guidance for implementation;

·the key stakeholders should be involved, including national, regional and local authorities, economic and social actors, civil society, academia and non-governmental organisations; public events will also promote this involvement (for example, annual fora, business to business and investors pitch/speed-funding events);

·the Atlantic Strategy Committee will make use of periodic and progress tracking to report to the political level, and will be responsible for ensuring the action plan’s implementation;

·a dedicated assistance mechanism will provide support upfront to EU Member States and help to implement the goals under each pillar; the support should also include involving stakeholders and helping them to partner and collecting any data needed to establish baselines, monitor and report on progress, and maintain the Atlantic maritime data hub 25 ;

·communicating about the Atlantic action plan and the overarching Atlantic maritime strategy is a responsibility shared by the EU and its Member States at all levels –national, regional and local; the assistance mechanism will develop and coordinate a consistent communication approach in the EU Atlantic area.

A dedicated monitoring and evaluation framework will track the action plan’s progress and help assess the extent to which the action plan is delivering on its goals. The results of this continuous review will inform potential amendments of the action plan in the future.

4.3.MOBILISING FUNDS AND FINANCING

No funding has been earmarked in the EU budget for the Atlantic action plan. The plan will mainly rely on any EU and national funds and financing instruments relevant to the goals and actions that can be mobilised. The timing of the action plan is designed to inspire managing authorities from EU Member States and coastal regions when they are formulating their partnership agreements and programmes which are planned to be finalised before the end of 2020.

Looking to the next programming period (2021-2027), the Communication explores what finance is needed to ensure a successful implementation of the identified actions. This will involve a combination of public investment from national and EU budgets as well as private money.

The EU Member States and their coastal regions can draw on:

·European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) in particular:

othe European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and

othe European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), including the European Territorial Cooperation programmes

·the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research programmes,

·the COSME programme for small and medium enterprises,

·the Connecting Europe Facility for infrastructure,

·the Erasmus+ programme for education, training, youth and sport,

·the LIFE programme for environment and climate,

·the Reform Support Programme, upon request for financial and technical support,

·the Union Civil Protection Mechanism for prevention and preparedness for cross-border risks, and for marine pollution at sea and on shore.

Territorial Cooperation programmes, especially the Interreg Atlantic Area programme, facilitates the transnational collaboration that this action plan aims to achieve.

The EU aims to deliver a high proportion of support through financial instruments. Between 2013 and 2017, the European Investment Bank provided almost €3 billion in loans for projects on connectivity and green technologies in the EU Atlantic area, becoming the second largest source of finance after the European Regional and Development Fund. The European Fund for Strategic Investment has also contributed by providing guarantees that lessen the risk for public and private investors. These loans and guarantees have been blended with grants from EU programmes. The BlueInvest platform, which started operations in September 2019, is helping small and medium enterprises to access finance. This will enable them to deliver new products or service to the market through coaching in business readiness and grants for activities such as further development or demonstrations. The Commission’s proposal for a successor to the European Fund for Strategic Investment for 2021-2027, the InvestEU programme, will have greater emphasis on meeting EU goals such as decarbonisation or the circular economy.

5.WIDER LINKS AND BREXIT

The implementation of the action plan does not require changes to EU legislation. The action plan aims to strengthen EU policies relevant to the EU Atlantic area and increase the synergies between them in order to support a sustainable, resilient and competitive blue economy in the EU Atlantic area. This includes, in particular, EU policies and programmes dealing with ports and connectivity 26 , energy from renewable sources 27 , education and skills 28 , mitigation and in particular, the actions of the Skills Agenda, adaptation to climate change 29 , environment 30 , and research and innovation 31 .

Widening the support base for the action plan suggests working with well-known networks in order to engage with specialised stakeholder groups, such as the European Enterprise Network 32 , FARNET 33 , regional and local clusters. Synergies will be sought with other intergovernmental bodies, such as the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic 34 and the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance 35 whose geographic reach and scope are similar to the action plan’s.

As of 1 February 2020, the UK is no longer a member of the European Union. This third country status will determine the scope and terms of the UK’s participation in the Atlantic action plan.

6.CONCLUSION

The Commission invites the European Parliament and the Council to endorse the action plan and the orientation set out in this Communication. The Commission also invites the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee to provide opinions on this initiative.

(1) COM(2011) 782 final, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52011DC0782
(2) COM(2013) 279 final, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1395674057421&uri=CELEX:52013DC0279  
(3) COM(2020) 456 final
(4) COM(2019) 640 final
(5) COM(2020) 380 final
(6) COM(2020) 381 final
(7) SWD(2018) 49 final, https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/sites/maritimeaffairs/files/swd-2018-49_en.pdf
(8) Series of dedicated stakeholder workshops were organised by the European Commission in Gran Canaria (Spain), Viana do Castelo (Portugal), Dublin (Ireland), Liverpool (UK) and Bordeaux (France) between September and November 2018. The results of the workshops are available online: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/node/4400
(9) On 24 May 2013, the European Union, Canada and the United States signed an agreement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation. http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/galway_statement_atlantic_ocean_cooperation.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none  
(10) On 13 of July 2017, the European Union, Brazil and South Africa signed the Belém Statement signed an agreement for research and innovation in the Atlantic Ocean. http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/belem_statement_2017_en.pdf
(11) AORA involves the EU, the United States and Canada. Thanks to AORA, today some 25 projects involving over 500 international research teams are already engaged in Atlantic Ocean research. https://www.atlanticresource.org/aora
(12) As stated in the transatlantic implementation strategy drafted by the Marine Working Group on Ocean Literacy of the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance supported by Horizon 2020.
(13) Marine renewable energy includes offshore wind (bottom fixed and floating) and ocean energy (waves and tidal energy).
(14) https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/home/
(15) The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was tasked with assessing the scientific evidence on climate change.
(16) http://marine.copernicus.eu/2nd-ocean-state-report-available/, http://marine.copernicus.eu/3rd-ocean-state-report-now-available/
(17) www.copernicus.eu
(18) The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (the ‘OSPAR Convention') was open for signature at the Ministerial Meeting of the Oslo and Paris Commissions in Paris on 22 September 1992. It was adopted together with a final declaration and an action plan. All five EU Member States, participants in the Atlantic strategy, are members of OSPAR.
(19) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32008L0056
(20) COM/2018/028
(21) Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of  13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, OJ L 26, 28.1.2012, pp.1-21, as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014, OJ L 124, 25.4.2014, pp. 1-18.
(22) Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, OJ L 197, 21.7.2001, p. 30–37.
(23) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206 , 22.07.1992, as amended by Council Directive 97/62/EC of 27 October 1997 OJ L 305, 8.11.1997, p. 42, Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 September 2003, OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p.1, Council Directive 2006/105/EC of 20 November 2006, OJ L 363, 20.12.2006, p. 368, Council Directive 2013/17/EU of 13 May 2013, OJ L 158, 10.6.2013, p.193.
(24) Subject and without prejudice to the assessment of the evaluation procedures and criteria for the concerned funds, programmes and projects .  
(25) https://maritime.easme-web.eu/  
(26) A framework for the provision of port services and common rules on the financial transparency of ports: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32017R0352
(27) Revised Renewables energy directive: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2018.328.01.0082.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2018:328:TOC
(28) A new skills agenda for Europe: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52016DC0381&from=EN
(29) The European green deal: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1576150542719&uri=COM%3A2019%3A640%3AFIN
(30) MSFD, EIA, SEA and AA for offshore wind
(31) https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/research-area/oceans-and-seas_en
(32) https://een.ec.europa.eu/
(33) https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/cms/farnet2/node_en
(34) https://www.ospar.org/convention
(35) https://www.atlanticresource.org/aora/site-area/background/whoweare