NGOs target new Commission with launch of ‘Blue Manifesto’

Civil society organisations today set out their demands for future EU marine protection policy, with the launch in the European Parliament building in Brussels of a ‘Blue Manifesto’ aimed at the new EU executive set to take office later this year.

President Ursula von der Leyen has already pledged that her second European Commission will produce a new European Oceans Pact focused on boosting the ‘blue economy’ and ensuring good governance and sustainability, and has created the role of dedicated Fisheries and Oceans Commissioner.

The manifesto was produced by campaign groups Oceana, WWF, Seas at Risk, Surfrider, Birdlife Europe and the legal charity Client Earth and endorsed by some 140 others. In it, they seek to influence the EU political agenda for the next five years, starting with the MEPs who are due to grill commissioner-designate Costas Kadis in a public hearing before voting on his appointment.

The groups call for an overarching ocean policy analogous to the Green Deal of the outgoing first von der Leyen Commission, noting that marine ecosystems are already at tipping point, with destructive practices like bottom trawling ongoing in some 90% of protected areas. As well as new policy measures, they stress the need for effective enforcement of the routinely flouted rules already in place, with a dedicated EU agency to ensure compliance.

“We welcome von der Leyen’s commitment to adopt and Ocean Pact – but a law is only worth the paper it’s written on if it is properly enforced,” said lawyer Anaïs Berthier, head of the Brussels office of ClientEarth, one of two NGOs that yesterday launched a lawsuit against the French government for allowing trawling in Marine Protected Areas in breach of EU law.

Speaking at the launch