Europa s 2016 itre study guide

Ok

22nd

–

25th

EUropa.S. 2016

of April 2016 | University of Piraeus

3 Organized

by Institute of Research & Training on European Affairs EE

EUropa.S. 2016 ITRE

Study Guide TOPIC: ''The emergence of Blue Growth in EU's policy framework. A major breakthrough for sustainability or old wine in new bottle?''

EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide

Table of Contents 1. Greeting of the Board....................................................................................................... 3 2. The Industry, Research and Energy Committee of the European Parliament (ITRE Committee) ........................................................................................................................... 4 3. Introduction to the Topic ................................................................................................ 5 4. Existing Framework......................................................................................................... 6 5. Blue Growth aspects ........................................................................................................ 7 5.1 Aquaculture .................................................................................................................... 7 5.2 Maritime and Coastal Tourism ..................................................................................... 8 5.3 Ocean Energy ................................................................................................................. 9 5.4 Marine Biotechnology ................................................................................................. 10 5.5 Sea Basin Strategy........................................................................................................ 10 5.5.1 Baltic Sea Region ................................................................................................... 10 5.5.2 Adriatic and Ionian Region .................................................................................. 11 5.5.3 Atlantic Ocean ....................................................................................................... 12 5.5.4 Black Sea ................................................................................................................ 12 5.5.5 Mediterranean Sea ................................................................................................ 13 6. EU capacity to exploit this potential ............................................................................. 15 6.1 Blue Growth in Horizon 2020 ..................................................................................... 15 6.1.1 Workprogram 2014-2015.................................................................................... 15 6.1.2 Workprogram 2016-2017.................................................................................... 15 6.2 European Research Infrastructures and Industrial Technologies ........................... 16 6.3 Nanotechnologies - Biotechnology ............................................................................. 17 6.4 Maritime Transportation ............................................................................................ 17 6.5 Sustainable Blue Growth ............................................................................................. 17 7. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 19 8. European Parliament’ Political Parties Position ......................................................... 20 8.1 European Peoples’ Party (EPP) .................................................................................. 20 EUropa.S. 2016, 22nd – 25th April, Athens, Greece europas.irtea@gmail.com |www.europas.irtea.gr Page 1

EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide 8.2 Socialists and Democrats (S&D) ................................................................................. 20 8.3 European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) ........................................................ 20 8.4 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) ........................................... 21 8.5 European Union Left – Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) ............................................. 21 9. Questions raised............................................................................................................. 23 10. Suggestions for further research ................................................................................ 24 11. Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 25 11.1 Books .......................................................................................................................... 25 11.2 Presentations ............................................................................................................. 25 11.3 Articles........................................................................................................................ 25 11.4 Journals ...................................................................................................................... 26 11.5 Websites ..................................................................................................................... 26

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1. Greeting of the Board Dear MEPs, It is our distinct honour and pleasure to welcome you to the Committee of Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the European Parliament at EUropa.S 2016! We are pleased to have you among us and we hope you are ready for a high quality conference.

The following topic has been chosen because Blue Growth is an interesting and up-todate issue. In the new funding period 2014-2020, transnational cooperation programs are designed to contribute to the implementation of the EU strategy “Europe 2020 for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” and, thus, to blue and green growth. Blue Growth is a crucial issue, which requires to each and every one of you to have a detailed knowledge of all the definitions mentioned in this study guide. This will help you follow the conversation by the time of the conference and be competitive during the debate.

This document is prepared to guide you and help your research on the topic before and during the conference. You should also visit the websites of the organizations that will be presented below, in which a variety of useful publications and reports are included.

This is what we hope for this conference: Fresh ideas, innovative concepts and sustainable strategies.

With this in mind, we wish you an inspiring and stimulating reading!

Sincerely, The Board of ITRE Committee

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2. The Industry, Research and Energy Committee of the European Parliament (ITRE Committee) The Committee of Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament, responsible for:  the Union's industrial policy and the application of new technologies, including measures relating to Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs);  the Union's research policy, including the dissemination and exploitation of research findings;  Community measures related to energy policy in general, the security of energy supply and energy efficiency including the establishment and development of trans-European networks in the energy infrastructure sector; and  The information society and information technology, including the establishment and development of trans-European networks in the telecommunication infrastructure sector.

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3. Introduction to the Topic Blue Growth is a long term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole. Seas and oceans are very important aspects of the European economy, and have a great potential to radically improve the economic situation in the Union. In order to achieve the goals of the «Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth», the maritime sector can contribute significantly. Blue economy provides jobs to 5,4 million people and it is expected that over the five following years Blue Economy can create two million jobs in Europe. The Blue Growth strategy is based on three categories that include: i) Targeted approach for specific activities ii) Specific Integrated Maritime Policy measures iii) Strategies for sea basins in order to ensure the most appropriate combination of measures to promote sustainable development. This point will take into account local climatic, oceanographic, economic, cultural and social factors.

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4. Existing Framework Exploiting the oceans’ natural wealth is definitely not a new idea. The concept was first introduced with the adoption of the Common Fisheries Policy(CFP) in the 1970s, establishing rules for the equal access of all Member-States in the fishing fleets of the European seas and managing the fishing stocks1. The importance of this framework is underlined in the case of Factortame (C-46/93), where the CFP is connected with the fundamental freedom of establishment.

Although no progress had been noted for a very long time, the unprecedented financial crisis, European Union is confronted with since 2008 brought up the need for new ideas, new forms of development and alternatives energy supplies with the aid of modern technology.

“Blue Growth” was first introduced in 2012, in the Communications COM(2012)04942 from the European Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on Blue Growth opportunities for marine and maritime sustainable growth which identifies the five priority sectors the growth concerning seas and oceans should rely on.

The Communication 3 COM(2014)254 follows two years later, in 2014, with the aim to launch innovations in the blue economy so as to “realize the potential of our seas and oceans for jobs and growth” focusing on the marine knowledge and observation.

Furthermore, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD-Directive 2008/56/EC of 17 June 20084) aims to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of the seas and coastline to the Member-States. Last but not least, EU Integrated Maritime Policy, adopted at 2011 by the Regulation 1255/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council5, constitutes the framework under the scope of which the various maritime issues of the Member-States are arranged and different policies are coordinated.

European Commission. The common fisheries policy(CFP). [Online] Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/index_en.htm 2 EU-Lex. Document 52012DC0494 (2012).[Online] Available from: http://eurlex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52012DC0494 3 European Commission. Communication COM(2014)254. [Online] Available from: http://cor.europa.eu/en/activities/stakeholders/Documents/COM(2014)254%20final.pdf 4 EUROPEAN COMMISION. Our Oceans, Seas and Coasts. [Online] Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine-policy/marine-strategyframework-directive/index_en.htm 5 EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Integrated Maritime Policy. [Online] Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/index_en.htm 1

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5. Blue Growth aspects Including its outlying regions, the EU has the world’s largest maritime territory as 23 out of 28 EU countries have a coastline6. That’s a fact that can significantly boost the EU economy in many sectors from food trade to high quality transportation. According to studies on the Blue economy potential, five main sectors hold the lead and could deliver sustainable growth and jobs: Aquaculture, Maritime and Coastal tourism, blue biotechnology, ocean energy and seabed mining. These pillars constitute the Blue Growth’s strategy Targeted approach for specific activities.

5.1 Aquaculture Aquaculture is considered to be one of the most competitive sectors of the blue economy in the EU, as it offers a variety of high quality products according to environmental, animal health and consumer protection standards. Moreover, it is one of the fastest growing sectors as it provides the planet with almost the half of the fish consumed, especially in the Baltic Sea Region. In Europe, aquaculture accounts for almost 20% of fish production, and directly employs some 65.000 people, reaching 90.000 employees when taking into account associated jobs. In 2013, the European Commission highlighted the importance of the conservation and development of this sector, with the conduction of “Strategic Guidelines for the sustainable development of EU aquaculture”7.

In that line, the European Commission has adopted the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The main aim of this Policy is to ensure that all EU citizens have access to healthy food and to improve food security in general. Apart from that, it is important to reassure that this massive production does not affect the fish population to reproduce and the ecosystem.

The main goal that has been set right now it that from 2015 to 2020, the current policy will reach the limits that are sustainable and maintain fish stocks in the long term. On project level marine aquaculture is so far only explicitly covered by two flagship projects, «Aquabest» and «Submariner Network».

Aquabest is willing to create a strong basis for new environmental regulation policies8. The project strives to demonstrate that the Baltic Sea region The Common Fisheries Policy and the Integrated Maritime Policy: a brief overview and interactions 7 COM(2013)229 8 http://www.aquabestproject.eu/aquabest-project.aspx 6

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aquaculture has the potential to become a sustainable and responsible food production system, accepted by all stakeholders. It has made a various series of recommendations related to regulatory improvements, spatial planning of aquaculture and implementation of new recirculation aquaculture system technologies. Submariner Network, was approved as one of the flagship projects of the priority area ÂŤInnovationÂť and it seeks to improve coordination among Member States and stakeholders on fisheries management in the Baltic Sea9.

5.2 Maritime and Coastal Tourism This sector is also really important for the EU economy as it offers many opportunities in the labor sector. In particular, Cruise industry presents a 10% annual growth for the last 10 years and Cruise tourism an annual turnover of 14.5 billion. In its 2010 Communication the European Commission announced a strategy for sustainable maritime and coastal tourism. In 2012, there were 534 million tourist arrivals in Europe, which is 17 million more than in 2011 and 52% of all international arrivals worldwide10. The European Parliament has recommended a series of actions to develop the sector and support sustainable coastal tourism.

Furthermore, concerning coastal tourism there is an obvious lack of permanent institutional framework and network structures as well as a lack of a macroregional political framework. There is also a need for funding lines and a common policy. Having in mind that public sector cannot fully contribute in order the coastal tourism sector to be promoted, private actors could have a stronger involvement. In that line, one possible option could be the discussion among Member States on transboundary connectivity to develop coastal tourism in a wider area11.

Coastal Tourism requires healthy environment, high-quality services and welltrained people in order to make coastal tourism more appealing. Main target is to increase low-season tourism and, at the same time, adopt measures in order the environmental impact to be reduced, in the highest possible level. Moreover, this

http://www.submariner-network.eu/index.php/network Theofilou, C. (2015). EU Maritime Policy and Blue Growth.

11 Remotti, L. and Damvakeraki, T. (2015). Ocean Reasearch in Horizon 2020: The blue Growth Potential. Brussels: European Parliament.

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sector requires dialogue and cooperation between cruise operators, ports and coastal tourism stakeholders12.

5.3 Ocean Energy Oceans’ energy importance to the Blue Growth Potential has been stressed in the Communication on Energy Technologies and Innovation and the Atlantic Action Plan. Blue energy (or ocean energy) covers all technologies to harvest the renewable energy of our seas and oceans other than offshore wind13. Ocean installations have a wide rage of environmental impacts, both positive and negative14.

Offshore wind can cover 4% of EU electricity demand and reach 170,000 jobs by 202015. Wave and tidal energy will follow in future having a high potential particularly in the Atlantic and North Sea16.

Ocean Energy Europe’s 96-strong membership spans a variety of technologies, from tidal stream and wave power to salinity gradient and ocean thermal energy conversion. They believe that ocean energy can produce to 100GW of Europe’s electricity supply by 2050, exploiting pan-European supply chains to drive energy security, employment and economic development17.

Ocean Energy is considered as one of five developing areas in Blue Growth, that could help in the creation of job positions in coastal areas. In 2008 a Communication on offshore wind was adopted by the Commission18. But the fast development of this sector sawed that it was a need this Communication to focus specifically on the potential of the ocean energy sector in order to be able to contribute in Europe’s 2020 Strategy19.

Blue Growth. Scenarios and Drivers for Sustainable Growth from the Oceans, Seas and Coasts,Rotterdam/Brussels, 2012 13 Finn, C. (2014). EU Commission sets out plan to harvest energy from our seas and oceans. [online] TheJournal.ie. Available at: http://www.thejournal.ie/eu-commission-ocean-energyplan-1273226-Jan2014/ 14 A Communication on offshore wind energy has been adopted in 2008 15 Badcock-Broe et al., 2014 16 Tidal Lagoons: A new opportunity for blue growth in Europe, available at: http://www.oceanenergy-europe.eu/images/Tidal_Lagoons__A_new_opportunity_for_Blue_Growth_in_Europe.pdf 12

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Ocean energy is at a critical stage right now, as moving from prototype demonstration to commercialization can be difficult for emerging technologies20.

5.4 Marine Biotechnology Biotechnology constitutes the application of science and technology in living organisms for the production of knowledge, goods and services. Marine biotechnology includes those efforts that involve marine bio-resources either as the source or the target of biotechnology applications21.

Europe has a leading position in blue biotechnology sector, competing North America and East Asian countries. This sector has the potential to contribute significantly to high value products and processes and maximize marine resources and biodiversity understanding22.Blue biotechnology and marine biomass are considered as the economy of the future.

The development of the sector will offer a significant reduction in unemployment, especially if ground-breaking drugs can be developed from marine organisms, and significant downstream opportunities23. The sector is expected to emerge as a market focused on high-value products for the health, cosmetic and industrial biomaterials sectors leading to new application in fields such as drug discovery, novel foods and food ingredients.

5.5 Sea Basin Strategy 5.5.1 Baltic Sea Region - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden The sustainable blue growth agenda for the Baltic Sea region, gives us a detailed Strategy for every single aspect of blue growth potential. Baltic Sea agenda was adopted in 2014 and it is the first macro-regional strategy in Europe. It aims to achieve a more balanced development in the area and a more comprehensive cooperation between stakeholders. Moreover it focuses on improving innovation

COM(2014)8 Thakur, A. and Thakur, N. (2015). Marine biotechnology: An overview. Indian Journal of Biotechnology, 5(July 2006), pp.263-268.

22 Blue Growth opportunities for marine and maritime sustainable growth'(COM(2012)494 final) 23 COM(2012)494 20

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and sustainability, developing skills and qualifications and targeting maritime projects flow access to finance.

Strategy focuses on three objectives who reflect a three key challenge and includes: saving the sea, connecting the region and increasing prosperity. Each objective relates to a wide range of policies and has an impact on the other objectives.

The Baltic Sea Region’s specific qualities can combine a response to environmental challenges with extraordinary assets such as competitive and innovative research and business sectors

5.5.2 Adriatic and Ionian Region - Croatia, Greece, Italy, and Slovenia Adriatic and Ionian Sea constitute a major maritime and marine region in Europe, because of their excellent location and privileged climate. Europe’s new Action Plan for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (COM/2014/0357) was introduced in 17th of July 2014. This plan includes the cooperation between four EU Member States (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Slovenia) and four non-EU countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia).

The four priority areas listed bellow were first introduced in 2012 and were finalized and further discussed at a Stakeholder Conference of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region24.

-Greece and Montenegro on Blue Growth. In this pillar, it is considered to be as one of the most important priority areas by Horizon 2020 and The Maritime and Fisheries Fund. This can be a key instrument for the implementation of actions and projects in the pillar.

-Italy and Serbia on «Connecting the region. In the pillar "Connecting the region 'facilitate' Connecting Europe» (CEF) 2014-2020 supports the development of sustainable and efficient interconnected trans-European highperformance networks in transport, energy and digital services.

-Croatia and Albania on «Sustainable Tourism”. Sustainable tourism can receive support from the EU COSME program for SMEs.

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-Slovenia and Bosnia on « Environmental Quality.

Lack of research-to-business networks, shortcomings in transport links and vessel traffic congestion, insufficient institutional and administrative capacity, are some of the main problems that are an obstacle to this regions growth. It is a common thought that only with cooperation among states all this challenges can be faced better than in national or local level25.

EU Strategy for Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR), is aiming to increase mobility, skills of the workforce and transparency of qualifications. It also seeks to stimulate the creation of maritime clusters, research networks and the development of a research strategy. The main target is to promote innovation and increase administrative cooperation on the simplification and harmonization of formalities in maritime transport as foreseen in the EU acquis. These goals are an example of the priority areas under the Blue strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Seas26.

5.5.3 Atlantic Ocean The plan for Atlantic Ocean revitalization, aims to improve connectivity and accessibility and create a social inclusive model of regional development.

«The scene for implementing the EU's Maritime Strategy in the Atlantic area is set, now it's time for action. Today we already see ambitious projects at national level, but there is still a lot of room for cross-border cooperation, whether on grid connectivity, innovation clusters or maritime safety. Helping Member States and regions to work together is where the Atlantic Action Plan can be most valuable»27

5.5.4 Black Sea -Romania, BulgariaBlack sea holds a really important geostrategic position, especially for energy security and the diversification of EU energy sources. It offers the Union a big energy source of energy supply routes.

As only two of the six countries bordered to Black sea are EU member states it is difficult to promote an actually EU Action plan. European Commission mainly seeks for dialogue between stakeholder community and a possible EU and non25

Q&A on the EU Strategy for the Andriatic and Ionian Region(EUSAIR),2014 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-429_en.htm 26 COM(2014)357 27 Commissioner’s Karmenu Vella statement EUropa.S. 2016, 22nd – 25th April, Athens, Greece europas.irtea@gmail.com |www.europas.irtea.gr Page 12

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EU countries cooperation. Apart from that there are also three goal categories that include the promotion of economic and social development in the border areas, local cooperation and the adoption of common policy..

Achieving cooperation is important for the Black Sea region. The countries around the basin need to enhance cooperation to tackle the challenges such as illegal fishing or pollution, and to make most of the opportunities in trade or tourism28. The European Commission stands ready to facilitate this process and has adopted the Black Sea Synergy initiative, in which a detailed action plan can be found29.

5.5.5 Mediterranean Sea In the Mediterranean Sea, blue growth strategy is targeted in the improvement of cooperation between states and governance. The main problem, though, is that a big part of the Mediterranean is beyond national jurisdiction, and this can make it difficult to adopt a focused and common action. By the time Mediterranean strategy is based on two main targets: Firstly, the establishment of Working Groups for Integrated Maritime Policy and, secondly, the achievement of a Tripartite cooperation between the European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the European Investment Bank and the International Maritime Organization. All three of these Parties shall cooperate with the Secretariat of the Mediterranean and the countries concerned on key issues.

This plan is funded by Southern countries under the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI) for the period 2014-2020. European Union works with southern countries under ENI in order to achieve the stronger political association and the greatest possible degree of economic integration.

Moreover, Integrated Maritime policy in the Mediterranean has emphasized the importance to promote a network of maritime training and the value of maritime knowledge to fulfill the blue growth and boost the economy30.

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European Commision, (2015). Cooperation in the Black Sea – Commissioner Damanaki in Romania and Bulgaria. [online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/mare/itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=8744 &subweb=342&lang=el 29 SWD(2015)6 final, Black Sea Synergy: review of a regional cooperation initiative, available (online):http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/sea_basins/black_sea/documents/swd_201 5_6_en.pdf Bluemed Research and innovation initiative for blue jobs and growth in the Mediterranean area, 2015 30

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6. EU capacity to exploit this potential 6.1 Blue Growth in Horizon 2020 Launched in 2014, Horizon 2020 is the ambitious EU Research and Innovation Program aiming at implementing the Innovation Union, which constitutes the Europe 2020 flagship initiative31. Its three pillars, namely excellent science, industrial leadership and tackling societal challenges include directly or indirectly blue growth-related issues.

6.1.1 Workprogram 2014-2015 The Horizon 2020 Workprogram 2014-201532, which targets the potential of seas and oceans as a special Focus Area, aims at the better comprehension of the interaction of the marine world and the ways to take advantage of it-primarily through R&I technologies, by establishing five interlinked priority sectors promoting the Blue Growth Agenda: valorising the sea biodiversity; sustainable exploitation of the seabed mining; new offshore challenge; systems of deep- sea observation; and the socio-economic dimension.

6.1.2 Workprogram 2016-201733

Following this functional framework, the Horizon 2020 Workprogram 20162017, adopted on October 2015, creates four new pillars in order to further promote knowledge concerning the marine and maritime sector(points 1,2) and localizing the Blue Growth Agenda(points 3,4) :

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Horizon 2020. (2014). [Online] Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/ 32 Remotti, L. and Damvakeraki, T. (2015). Ocean Reasearch in Horizon 2020: The blue Growth Potential.

Brussels: European Parliament.

[Online] Available from: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2015/518775/IPOL_STU(2015)51877 5_EN.pdf 33 EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Draft Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016-2017 in the area of Information and Communication Technologies.(2015) [Online] Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/sites/horizon2020/files/05i.%20LEITICT_2016-2017_pre-publication.pdf EUropa.S. 2016, 22nd – 25th April, Athens, Greece europas.irtea@gmail.com |www.europas.irtea.gr Page 15

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1) Boosting innovation for emerging Blue Growth activities by removing bureaucratic obstacles so as to facilitate the entrance of new sustainable marine and maritime technologies (providing special support to innovative products) and promoting the multi-use of marines spaces; 2) Linking healthy oceans and seas with healthy people: exploring the impact of the marine biodiversity- when well functioning- to the human society 3) The Arctic dimension: exploring the potential of the dangerous yet promising Arctic region.

4) Valorising the Mediterranean Sea Basin: observation of the “mare nostrum” ecosystems so as to map the area and be able to exploit its natural wealth using state-of-the-art sustainable systems such as BLUEMED Initiative.

6.2 European Technologies

Research

Infrastructures

and

Industrial

One of the contributive factors of the realization of blue growth is, undoubtedly, the infrastructure. It is defined as the facilities, resources and services (including education) used in the research activities. In this sector, big steps have been made recently under the scope of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap, facilitating the exchange of machinery and know-how and developing e-infrastructures underpinning a digital European Research Area. Enabling and industrial technologies in R&I sector are considered the key for the ambitious sea- based development strategy which aims at the creation of jobs, the support of SMEs and the implementation of the second pillar of Horizon 2020.

The Joint Programming Initiative in the area of Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans)34 is a strategic platform which welcomes and manages the investments of the EU Member States and third countries in marine and maritime research. In cooperation with EurOcean, JPI Oceans, collecting information from 785 different facilities, established the Marine Research Infrastructures (MRI) Database which provides the first level of knowledge and characteristics for each facility. The general idea is the equal access in virtual activities so as to reassure collaboration between stakeholders from different Member States, Associated Countries and third countries and create transEuropean research programs.

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6.3 Nanotechnologies - Biotechnology Within the context of LEIT, as defined by Horizon, the use of nanotechnology products as well as biotechnology could be beneficial for the realization of the blue growth potential, as well. The Workprogram 2014-2015 refers to these technologies as “innovation drivers�, covering metagenomics, sub-sea technologies for example for remotely operated vehicles and robots, biomolecules and industrial biomaterials, marine-derived enzymes35.

6.4 Maritime Transportation Shipbuilding, ship repair and transport could be a fundamental factor of the blue growth, as well. The challenges in the maritime mobility area are defined as waterborne, logistics, intelligent transport systems, and infrastructures. The objective is to build energy efficient and very-low emission vessels, ensure the safety of waterborne operations through new technologies and smarter traffic management. Other measures could be the enlargement of synergies alongside in the supply sector, including e-commerce, the promotion of common communication and navigation platforms for logistics applications, architectures and open systems for information sharing, connectivity and information sharing for intelligent mobility based on GNSS-based location, construction and maintenance of infrastructures and next generation transport infrastructure36 .

6.5 Sustainable Blue Growth Living in the Sustainable Decade (2014-2020), it is important to seek for measures as friendly to the natural environment as possible. This could be achieved only by promoting the use of "eco-innovations" able to contribute to the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Special emphasis is to be given in the alternative energy resources connected to the seas and oceans such as wave power or tidal lagoon; the former means the energy production by wave height, wave speed, wavelength, and water density through generators placed on the surface of the sea, whilst the latter is the capture of the Remotti, L. and Damvakeraki, T. (2015). Ocean Research in Horizon 2020: The blue Growth Potential. Cited above 36 Remotti, L. and Damvakeraki, T. (2015). Ocean Reasearch in Horizon 2020: The blue Growth Potential. Cited above 35

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potential energy created by the difference in sea level between high and low tides. The use of these alternative resources in conjunction with the improvement of the ship cleaning systems so as to reduce Sulphur emissions would contribute to the creation of a sustainable marine environment.

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7. Conclusion Even if the Blue Growth appears to be a high-level potential, it is true that there are significant risks concerning its fulfillment. First of all, due to natural conditions existing, it is very uncertain whether the technologies applied will “survive”. Secondly, various weaknesses are already recognized during the function of the existing framework: not enough investment on the R&I sector contrary to the high cost of intellectual property rights and inadequacy of PublicPrivate Partnerships (PPPs). Furthermore, the damage caused not only by the exploitation of the marine environment-especially harvesting the seabed mining37, but also by the effort to establish surveillance systems, cannot be based on scientific criteria. Finally, there are huge interconnectivity issues; areas with tremendous potential are not able to take advantage of it because of the lack of investments in the connectivity of grids.

All in all, Blue Growth means the exploitation of the seas’, oceans’ and coasts’ natural wealth with the latest technology and in the most sustainable manner.

This framework, consisting of five priority sectors(Aquaculture, Marine and Coastal Tourism, Ocean Energy, Biotechnology and Sea Basin Strategy), functions under the scope of Horizon 2020, the current framework of Research and Innovation. Nevertheless, Blue Growth is just a Potential so far, as it concerns many financial and environmental skills. Could it become the project with the aid of which the EU would overcome the financial difficulties, achieve energy efficiency and restore its leader place in the world stage?

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JOINT NGO POSITION PAPER. Limits of Blue Growth. (2012). [Online] Available from: http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/limits_blue_growth_joint_ngo_paper_october2012 .pdf EUropa.S. 2016, 22nd – 25th April, Athens, Greece europas.irtea@gmail.com |www.europas.irtea.gr Page 19

EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide

8. European Parliament’ Political Parties Position

8.1 European Peoples’ Party (EPP) “The main weight of funding should be invested on the sectors of energy, industry, research and tourism” Maria Spyraki The European Peoples’ Party thinks that Europe has to increase its energy efficiency by diversifying its energy supply sources. Therefore, they absolutely support the BLUE GROWTH POTENTIAL as it might provide EU with multiple energy resources and promote the Energy Union. In addition, as the SMEs are considered to be the backbone of EU economy, this strategy may boost entrepreneurs to enter the market, launch new products and create jobs.

8.2 Socialists and Democrats (S&D) “Ocean renewable energy in the form of tides, waves and wind can deliver a large share of our energy needs in a stable, sustainable and predictable way. Combined with an interconnected super-grid, they have the potential to become our own European “blue field”” Kathleen Van Brempt The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats considers of the blue growth potential as the development strategy which is able to lead EU to the Energy Efficiency and the financial recovery. The emphasis is on the new jobs the potential is promising to create, while taking advantage of the blue wealth in the most eco-friendly manner.

8.3 European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) “The Committee of regions believes that using the potential of blue growth represents an opportunity to boost the local economy and creates quality jobs in knowledge- and investment-intensive economic sectors” Adam Banaszak The European Conservatives and Reformists Group refers to the restorage of the EU competitiveness as an issue of major importance. Thus, they support the blue growth potential as long as it does not violate the national sovereignty of the Member- States and the open competition, which are their main principles.

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EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide

8.4 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) “'Blue growth'…should create new business opportunities and jobs by unlocking the potential of Europe's seas and coastal areas” Ivan Jakovčić The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe thinks that the blue growth may be as an opportunity for the EU in order to tackle this unprecedented economic crisis. Investing in the new technologies and job creating, while establishing a concrete European taxation on this particular sector, are their main areas of interest.

8.5 European Union Left – Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) “The Member States have a key role to play in this domain… we should not submit the seas and oceans to forms of unsustainable exploitation of resources, insisting in growth models which have already shown themselves to be unsustainable” João Ferreira The party of European United Left/ Nordic Green Left welcomes the Blue Growth potential as it appears to be a sustainable development strategy. They applaud the potential to decrease unemployment with a number of new positions available in the R&I sector, they underline that this project is to be fulfilled only through trans- European solidarity and they express their concerns about the possible over-exploitation of the blue wealth.

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EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide

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EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide

9. Questions raised 1.

How can the EU energy management policy become more “blue growth” friendly?

2.

How can problems that arose from excessive growth in past years be tackled?

3.

What are the challenges of “blueing” the ocean economy? What are the investment opportunities?

4.

Which policy measures are needed to unlock the full potential of maritime industries to provide jobs, prosperity and quality services - in short, to overcome the “growth blues” and deliver blue growth instead?

5.

What are the prospects for innovative diversification and differentiation of the industry?

6.

How can the Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) contribute to each Blue Growth aspect (especially tourism)?

7.

What’s the role of international cooperation?

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EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide

10. Suggestions for further research Blue Growth: http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/blue_growth/index_en.htm Europe 2020: http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm Horizon 2020: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/ Work Program 2014-2015: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/doc/call/h2020/common/1 617601-part_1_introduction_v2.0_en.pdf Work Program 2016-2017: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/sites/horizon2020/files/05i.% 20LEIT-ICT_2016-2017_pre-publication.pdf Analysis of Blue Growth needs and potential per country: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/sites/maritimeforum/files/Execu tive%20Summary_Report_1_final.pdf Marine Knowledge 2020: content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2014:149:FIN

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

http://www.epp.eu/ http://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/ http://ecrgroup.eu/ http://www.alde.eu/ http://www.guengl.eu/ http://www.greens-efa.eu/ http://www.jpi-oceans.eu/

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EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide

11. Bibliography 11.1 Books Giuliano, L. (2015). Blue Biotechnology: bridges between marine and maritime sector. 1st ed. CIESM. OECD (2015), Green Growth in Fisheries and Aquaculture, OECD Green Growth Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris Remotti, L. and Damvakeraki, T. (2015). Ocean Research in Horizon 2020: The blue Growth Potential. Brussels: European Parliament.

Report on Blue Growth: Enhancing sustainable growth in the EU’s marine, maritime transport and tourism sectors (2012/2297(INI))', Committee on Transport and Tourism Bluemed Research and innovation initiative for blue jobs and growth in the Mediterranean area. (2015). European Commision.

11.2 Presentations Aoidh, E. (2015). Boosting Blue Growth: Aquaculture.

Brown, A. (2015). Aquaculture – EU Policies.

Theofilou, C. (2015). EU Maritime Policy and Blue Growth.

11.3 Articles A European wake-up call: unhealthy seas threaten our well-being and blue economy. (2015). Seas at Risk. [online] Available at: http://www.seas-atrisk.org/20-blue-growth/588-a-european-wake-up-call-unhealthy-seasthreaten-our-well-being-and-blue-economy.html [Accessed 28 Nov. 2015].

Dwyer, N. (2014). Europe’s Blue Growth Strategy targets the Aquaculture Industry.

SAFI. [online] Available at: http://www.safiservices.eu/en/Newsletter2014A04 [Accessed: 28th Nov. 2015] Finn, C. (2014). EU Commission sets out plan to harvest energy from our seas and oceans. [online] TheJournal.ie. Available at: http://www.thejournal.ie/eucommission-ocean-energy-plan-1273226-Jan2014/ EUropa.S. 2016, 22nd – 25th April, Athens, Greece europas.irtea@gmail.com |www.europas.irtea.gr Page 25

EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide

Mosedale, J. (2005). Coastal Mass Tourism: Diversification and Sustainable Development in Southern Europe. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(1), pp.282284.

11.4 Journals Thakur, A. and Thakur, N. (2015). Marine biotechnology: An overview. Indian Journal of Biotechnology, 5(July 2006), pp.263-268.

11.5 Websites Badcock-Broe, A., Flynn, R., George, S., Gruet, R. and Medic, N. (2014). Wave and Tidal Energy Market Deployment Strategy for Europe. [online] Strategic Initiative for ocean energy.

Available at: http://www.siocean.eu/en/upload/docs/SIOcean_Market_Deployment_Strategy -Web.pdf European Networking Group for Integrated Maritime Policy, (2014). Analysis to support the elaboration of the Adriatic and Ionian maritime Action Plan. [online] Available at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/sites/maritimeforum/files/Report%202 _21_03_2014.pdf

EU-Lex. Document 52012DC0494 (2012).[Online] Available from: http://eurlex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52012DC0494 [Accessed: 28th Nov. 2015] EUROPEAN COMMISION. Our Oceans, Seas and Coasts. [Online] Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine-policy/marinestrategy-framework-directive/index_en.htm [Accessed: 28th Nov. 2015] EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Communication COM(2014)254. [Online] Available from: http://cor.europa.eu/en/activities/stakeholders/Documents/COM(2014)254% 20final.pdf [Accessed: 28th Nov. 2015] EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Draft Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016-2017 in the area of Information and Communication Technologies.(2015) [Online] Available from: EUropa.S. 2016, 22nd – 25th April, Athens, Greece europas.irtea@gmail.com |www.europas.irtea.gr Page 26

EUropa.S. 2016 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Study Guide

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/sites/horizon2020/files/05i.% 20LEIT-ICT_2016-2017_pre-publication.pdf [Accessed: 28th Nov. 2015] EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Horizon 2020. (2014). [Online] Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/ [Accessed: 28th Nov. 2015] EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Integrated Maritime Policy. [Online] Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/index_en.htm [Accessed: 28th Nov. 2015] EUROPEAN COMMISSION. The common fisheries policy(CFP). [Online] Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/index_en.htm [Accessed: 28th Nov. 2015] JOINT NGO POSITION PAPER. Limits of Blue Growth. (2012). [Online] Available from: http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/limits_blue_growth_joint_ngo_pa per_october2012.pdf [Accessed: 28th Nov. 2015]

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