Remarks by Commissioner Kadis on the European Ocean Pact

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are here today to present an emblematic initiative of great importance: The European Ocean Pact.

The Ocean Pact was first announced in the political guidelines last year by President von der Leyen, and was called for by the European Council in its conclusions of 20 March 2025.

But why do we place so much emphasis on the ocean? Just few figures to understand what it is all about and why it matters to all of us.

The Ocean is more than 70% of the Earth's surface, the Ocean is 80% of global biodiversity, the Ocean is more than 50% of the oxygen produced on our planet, the Ocean is 74% of the EU's external trade done by maritime transport, the Ocean is 99% of the global internet traffic by underwater cables and last but not least, the Ocean is 5 million jobs in the EU.

The question you will rightly ask me is WHY are you proposing a European Ocean Pact now?

The ocean is facing many challenges, including pollution, climate change, and overexploitation of marine resources, which require urgent attention and action. It also offers immense potential for more investments in a sustainable blue economy, and it is key for our security.

Over the years, the European Commission has introduced numerous policy initiatives relating to the ocean, covering areas such as fisheries and aquaculture, maritime transport, biodiversity protection, blue economy and maritime security.

However, we witnessed a negative trend that needs to be addressed urgently: and this is the fragmentation of policies which has significantly reduced the impact of these policies.

The European Ocean Pact we are presenting today, is about ensuring coherence and coordination across policies, and talking to each other to ensure that our respective policies deliver at their best.

Now please allow me to describe the architecture of this Pact, which is based on 6 fundamental pillars:

Protecting and restoring ocean health

We will support Member States to plan and implement measures to protect and restore degraded coastal and marine habitats. Key actions include encouraging Member States in Marine Protected Areas designation and management, ensuring the implementation of existing environmental legislation such as the Habitats directive and the Nature Restoration Regulation, revising the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and helping build new regenerative business models for coastal communities that benefit both nature and people, for example working on blue carbon reserves.

Boosting the competitiveness of the EU sustainable blue economy

The ocean is key for many economic sectors including fisheries, aquaculture, shipping, energy, coastal tourism, blue biotechnology, and underwater robotics. In addition to the on-going evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy and its possible revision, we will present a vision for fisheries and aquaculture for 2040 with a particular emphasis on small scale fishers among others. The Commission will also propose to strengthen the EU's maritime industry through an Industrial Maritime Strategy and an EU Port Strategy. It will further present a Sustainable Tourism Strategy and will support the rollout of offshore wind and ocean energy technologies. We will foster access to young professionals in marine research, ocean tech, and sustainable fisheries by introducing a Blue Generational Renewal Strategy. 

Supporting coastal, island communities and outermost regions

Coastal communities are the driving force behind a sustainable and competitive blue economy and play a crucial role in providing Europeans with healthy and sustainable food, and clean and affordable marine renewable energy. Ensuring their future is crucial. We will present a dedicated strategy for the development and resilience of EU coastal communities, a new strategy for EU islands and will consult stakeholders with a view to an updated strategy for outermost regions.

Advancing ocean research, knowledge, skills and innovation

The European Ocean Pact proposes an ambitious EU Ocean Observation Initiative to improve our knowledge on the ocean. It will be underpinned by an Ocean Research and Innovation Strategy. It will maintain the EU as a global ocean leader in ocean science.

Enhancing maritime security and defence

This is extremely important, given the current geopolitical context and taking into consideration that our seas host invaluable infrastructure which is indispensable for the well-being of the European citizens. We will work to strengthen EU coast guard and naval cooperation and maritime border security to tackle issues such as attacks on submarine infrastructure, cyber threats and risks posed by the shadow fleet. There will be a coordinated strategy to remove unexploded ordnance from European waters, starting in the Baltic and North Seas. Investment will be made in a pioneering European airborne drone fleet.

Strengthening EU Ocean diplomacy and international ocean governance

We need to mirror our substainable ocean policies to other parts of the world. We will strengthen European ocean diplomacy to promote the EU's ocean goals and interests on the international stage. We will promote global action in favour of ocean sustainability such as the ratification and implementation of the Treaty on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction. We will step up our fight against Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing through the mandatory implementation of IT CATCH, which is the digital IUU catch certification scheme, as of January 2026. As a result, EU Member States will be able to reinforce and harmonise import controls and actions to ensure the legality of fishery products on our market from net to plate.

The Ocean Pact should be implementable to be meaningful. This is why a strengthened governance framework will be at the heart of our Pact. It will aim at reinforcing the way we all work together on the ocean.

For this reason, we are set to present an Ocean Act by 2027. We will build on a revision of the Marine Spatial Planning Directive – a Directive which coordinates different policies in terms of locating their activities in the maritime space in a harmonised way. We will broaden the scope of this Directive to ensure increased cross-sectoral coordination.  The Act will ensure that existing targets linked to the ocean are identifiable under one roof and will facilitate their coherent and effective implementation, while at the same time decreasing administrative burden.

To support us in monitoring the implementation of the Pact, we also foresee the creation of an Ocean Board, gathering stakeholders from the sector and NGOs. And a dashboard to keep track of progress and make sure the promises of the Pact don't remain a piece of paper.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In conclusion, with the Ocean Pact, we are aiming at:

Fixing the policy fragmentation across our respective portfolios

Boosting the competitiveness of the EU's traditional and emerging Blue Economy sectors, strengthening its maritime industrial base and the blue economy's social dimension, and supporting its coastal and island communities and outermost regions.

Safeguarding the EU's interests at sea and protecting its citizens and territory.

And protecting our ocean better, at the EU level and on the international scene through strengthening international ocean governance and reinforced ocean diplomacy.

All in all, the Ocean Pact is definitely not a message in a bottle, the European Ocean Pact demonstrates how the European Union is also an Ocean Union.