Conclusions of the EESC Conference
Safe Seas: can an Integrated Maritime Surveillance be achieved by the EU?
Brussels, 24 March 2015
The conference, jointly organized by the EESC Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society (TEN) and the Section for External Relations (REX), focused on the presentation of two recent opinions on maritime security and surveillance, two very challenging and intrinsically linked policy areas. The attendance and level of debate of the conference was ensured by high-level speakers, such as Ana Gomes (Member of the European Parliament), Lowri Evans (Director-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries at DG Mare, European Commission), Fotis Karamitsos (Deputy Director-General for Logistics, Maritime and Land Transport and Passenger Rights, European Commission), Rear admiral Henrique de Gouveia e Melo (executive assistant to the Chief of the Portuguese Naval Staff) and many representatives from European Commission, its agencies, as well as from specialized organizations and associations.
The debates centred around three central points:
Ø Turning shared maritime interests into global security responsibilities – discussing the European Union Maritime Security Strategy Action Plan and how the EU approach to maritime security is implemented in practice;
Ø Cyber-security at sea – assessing risks and identifying adequate responses;
Ø Maritime surveillance – political, cultural and technical limitations to sharing relevant information across sectors and borders.
In the opening session, the President of the TEN Section Mr Buffetaut thanked speakers for having accepted the invitation and presented the schedule for the day: the morning panel should focus on maritime security, while the afternoon panel should focus on maritime surveillance. Mr Buffetaut reminded participants that in January 2013 the EESC organised the conference "Maritime piracy: strengthening the EU response" and applauded the EC for having nominated a Special Representative for the Horn of Africa. Maritime piracy remains a plague in several areas of the world, hampers trade and socio-economic development, and poses a high security threat to seafarers, often ending with tragic consequences.
Ms Gomes pointed out that a safe and secure maritime environment was a condition for prosperity, but that it was not in the hands of a single member state to ensure it. As such, she stressed the need for a coordinated approach and synergies, as well as the use of civilian capabilities. In her opinion, a maritime surveillance which takes care of maritime safety and security was needed. Ms Evans from the EC informed about the value added of both the European Maritime Security Strategy and the Integrated maritime surveillance initiatives while stressing their complementary with existing systems and initiatives at sectoral, national, regional and EU level. Further, while the maritime security strategy is now in the stage of political implementation, and that integration of maritime surveillance is about to become reality, a lot of work remains ahead. Enhancing the coordination, the operational capacity and the efficiency of relevant authorities is a priority in view of tackling the EU’s existing maritime challenges. Indeed, Ms Evans recalled that while 90% of the EU's trade is carried by sea, only 30% of all existing maritime surveillance information is being shared between the authorities who need it. Further, Mr Karamitsos stated that common maritime surveillance existed and that it could be expanded. He stressed the need to build on the investments already made in this area, enabling civilian systems already operating but highlighted the identified gap regarding exchange of information between the military/civilian sides. .
Dr Bredima, EESC Member and rapporteur on the Committee's opinion on maritime security strategy, presented it and pointed out that the European civil society was directly affected by maritime security, as its threats concerned all strands of civil society, encompassing seafarers, shipowners, fishermen, exporters and importers, tourists, consumers, as well as the local communities on the EU's coasts and islands. The EESC endorsed the strategic cross-sectoral approach to maritime security, Dr Bredima noted, however, that the implementation of the maritime security strategy must do a balancing act between concern for security and respect of fundamental human rights of individuals who may be affected. Have the human rights been outweighed by security concerns or the sovereign rights of states? Furthermore, there was need for respect of the UNCLOS Convention providing the legal basis for several actions including prosecution of pirates to end the state of impunity; other IMO Conventions referring to the ISPS Code for port security should also be applied as well as the IMO Guidelines on ports of refuge and people in distress. Last but not least, she stressed that the EESC believed that maritime security measures of compliance should not place additional economic burden on shipping companies.
In the panel discussion on maritime security and its specific aspects Mr Houben from the EEAS affirmatively responded to the question of the conference, as there was no other alternative to be pursued. He highlighted that maritime security was a critical pre-condition for developing blue economy, stressed the importance of cooperation between the EU and NATO in the field of maritime security and mentioned the lessons learnt from the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia. Furthermore, he noted that the EESC could play a role in mobilizing the different economic and social stakeholders by raising awareness, facilitating information exchange and creating channels of communication, since a broad stakeholder community was crucial to tackling complex international maritime issues.
Rear admiral Henrique de Gouveia e Melo spoke on the basis of his practical experience with the Portuguese Navy. He noted the problem of secrecy for the military which impacted the sharing of information required by the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE). He also pointed out the problems created by kidnapping and ransom which had increased after 2011 and which bore huge costs to the African economy.
Ms Marinus, Director of International relations, security, ports and logistics of the European Community Shipowners' Associations, noted that he EU should liaise with Nigeria to clarify the rules for private armed guards on board ships and examine the issue of under-reporting of incidents of piracy or armed robbery by ships. Moreover, a comprehensive EU response to the issue of large scale search and rescue operations at sea, considering the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, was urgently needed. Ms Marinus also expressed the view of the global operators of shipping that maritime cyber-security should rather be addressed by the IMO instead of the EU in order to achieve an international level playing field for ships, ports and shipping offices.
Mr Graveson, Senior National Secretary at Nautilus International, noted that action was needed with regard to ensuring sustainability of the maritime sector. He stressed that it was important to deal with maritime security and safety issues at all levels – member state, EU and international level. The EU should cooperate with the ILO and IMO and exercise proper influence at IMO Committees and SubCommittees. Mr Graveson also referred to measures adopted 40 years ago in the South China Sea with respect the Vietnam ‘Boat People’ as a possible helpful measure in addressing the current situation in Mediterranean.
Mr Missen, Head of Unit "Land and Maritime Security" at DG Move, highlighted the need for the EU to have a clear mandate and not a fragmentation of policies in order successfully implement the Action Plan on the Maritime Security Strategy. On the training of seafarers, he declared that inspections have found training inadequate and the crews insufficient and increasingly overburdened. In what concerns the situation of piracy in West Africa, he recommended the creation of a single EU information centre, the establishment of an international coastguard (with the involvement of the African Union) for the Gulf of Guinea, and the development of local economies to turn piracy into a relatively unattractive activity. On the topic of migration, he added that coherent policies need to be developed so transport is not affected by it.
In the panel discussion on maritime surveillance Mr Polyzogopoulos, the EESC rapporteur of the opinion on maritime surveillance, noted that cultural differences constituted an important challenge in the sharing of sensitive data of confidential nature about the 400 relevant authorities involved in the EU member states. There were also technical barriers and a renewal of the infrastructures was necessary in view of the different software systems used in the implementation of CISE. He also encouraged the EU to make more use of the existing resources of NATO.
Mr Terling, from DG Move, responded positively to the question whether an integrated maritime surveillance could be achieved by the EU and presented examples, together with his colleague Mr Ziolkowski from the European Maritime Safety Agency, of what the EU had already achieved in maritime surveillance; serving all end users with monitoring, surveillance, positioning (tracking and tracing of vessels) and observation as well as the collection, storage, sharing and exchange of relevant information, cross-sectors and across Member States . The EU Maritime Information and Exchange System (SSN) was a system providing real operational support, but there was still untapped potential in integrated maritime surveillance services.
Mr Soares from the European Defense Agency spoke about the maritime situational awareness and the Maritime Surveillance Networking system which enabled to track vessels and obtain and later share information on various parameters on the vessels at sea. He noted that there was willingness on the side of the EU to share maritime security related information with potential partners from third countries.
Mr Strasser from DG Mare explained the EU policy framework of Maritime CISE, which is being developed as an interoperability framework to make the best out of existing information from any relevant system in Europe, a set of tools to allow for enhanced cooperation, effectiveness and cost efficiency, and, finally, as a continuous process to enhance technical and operational interoperability amongst public authorities of any relevant sector. Maritime CISE is being designed to interlink existing systems at all levels for the benefit of existing authorities. Maritime CISE is thus not about the EU potentially taking over national or sectoral responsibilities.
Mr Barbas from the EU Joint Research Center presented the technical principles of the functioning of CISE and other CISE relevant experiences on the EU level – INSPIRE: Infrastructure for Spatial Information in EU for the purposes of Community Environmental policies and E-CUSTOMS: secure, integrated interoperable electronic customs.
To conclude the conference the President of the REX Section Mr Zufiaur remarked that the EESC had recently paid great attention to the strategic debate on maritime safety, security and surveillance, producing eight related opinions in 2013-12014. He stressed the importance of these matters as they affected a very large number of people, safety, tourism, sustainable development, as well as the continuity and existence of democracy in Europe. The challenges were multi-faceted and required a holistic approach and a coordinated and integrated European policy, strong political will, serious financial input and the development of technical and social capabilities. Last but not least, compliance with international standards was essential.
As to whether an integrated maritime surveillance could be achieved by the EU, Mr Zufiaur was glad to state that it was already happening through collaboration and information sharing among various actors/agencies, which shall be enhanced. He concluded that the EESC had a role to play in building a broad stakeholder community, creating channels of communication and raising awareness on maritime security and surveillance.