The European Union treats the oceans as a strategic dossier for climate, fishing, and food security.

The European Union is strengthening the agenda on oceans at a time when climate change, pressure on marine resources, and the future of sustainable fishing are transforming the seas into a strategic issue for European institutions. The European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, linked this agenda to international cooperation in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions, in a message delivered in the Faroe Islands.

For the European Commission, oceans are no longer just an environmental issue. They are presented as an area where climate security, biodiversity protection, fishing, research, the blue economy, and the interests of coastal communities intersect. Costas Kadis's portfolio includes preparing a European Pact for Oceans, strengthening maritime spatial planning, developing a European research and innovation strategy for oceans, and enhancing the role of the European Union in international ocean governance.

In short

The European Commission places oceans at the center of an agenda that combines climate, fishing, biodiversity, research, and international cooperation. Costas Kadis has the mandate to prepare a European Pact for Oceans, aimed at bringing more coherence between European policies related to seas and oceans. The issue is important for coastal communities, fishermen, researchers, the maritime industry, and northern regions. The Arctic and North Atlantic are becoming important spaces for European ocean policy, including from the perspective of climate change and marine resources. The European Union wants to strengthen its role in international ocean governance, including through cooperation with partners outside the bloc.

The European Pact for Oceans is designed as a framework to bring together European policies related to ocean health, the blue economy, fishing, research, innovation, and coastal communities. In the logic presented by the Commission, protecting marine ecosystems cannot be separated from the economic use of the seas, food security, or the future of regions dependent on marine resources.

This approach directly impacts fishing. The Commission describes Kadis's mandate as including the implementation of the common fisheries policy, preparing a vision for the sector up to 2040, combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and protecting the European fishing fleet from unfair global competition.

For citizens, the stakes are not just about nature conservation. The state of the oceans influences the price and availability of fishery products, the resilience of coastal communities, jobs in the blue economy, and Europe's ability to manage the effects of climate change. In northern regions, these issues are even more sensitive, as rapid warming, changing shipping routes, and pressure on Arctic ecosystems shift the balance between economic development and environmental protection.

Another important element is research. The Commission links ocean policy to a European research and innovation strategy, including the development of marine knowledge and the use of data for better management of the seas. This dimension is relevant for decisions regarding fishing, biodiversity, maritime infrastructure, and spatial planning at sea.

The international dimension is equally important. The European Union cannot protect the oceans solely through internal rules, as fishing, pollution, maritime transport, and climate change transcend state borders. Therefore, the Commission includes in the mandate of the Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans the strengthening of the EU's role in international ocean governance and in the implementation of the Treaty on Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction.

In the case of the Arctic, the European message also has a social component. A Commission report on dialogue with youth in the Arctic region shows that participants raised issues such as the involvement of indigenous communities in decision-making, marine environmental protection, access to resources, sustainable fishing, and the relationship between EU policies and local realities in northern Europe.

European ocean policy is at the intersection of the European Pact for Oceans, the common fisheries policy, marine research, biodiversity, the blue economy, and international cooperation. For the EU, the subject deserves to be pursued not as a simple environmental issue, but as a strategic theme about how the European Union protects its resources, coastal communities, and global influence in an increasingly contested maritime space.