A report on Europe’s marine environment, drafted by Kalkara Mayor Michael Cohen and adopted by the European Union’s Committee of Regions (COR) this month, not only urges the European Commission to address the problems affecting Europe’s seas with greater urgency, but also highlights the need for EU laws and decisions to be made at the lowest feasible administrative level and as closely as possible to the

citizen.

The Committee of Regions is a political assembly that provides local and regional authorities with a distinct voice in the European Union and addresses two main issues – to provide regional representatives with a voice in the development of new EU laws, and to involve local government, which is closest to the citizen, in the EU law-making process.

Mr Cohen, who has been involved in the COR since Malta’s EU accession, as well as having held observer status for a year prior to membership, is the first Maltese rapporteur to have drafted an opinion for the COR.

In October, he was nominated by the European Socialists to serve as the COR’s rapporteur on the European Commission’s Thematic Strategy on the Protection and Conservation of the Marine Environment group and was given the task of drawing up the COR’s opinion on the strategy.

Mr Cohen’s report, among the numerous maritime ecological issues raised, called on the Commission to bring forward its marine conservation targets from the proposed date of 2021 to 2018.

Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday, Mr Cohen stressed his belief that local and regional authorities should be more involved in the EU’s decision-making processes, a factor he saw lacking in the proposed marine strategy directive.

“It is important that the involvement of local and regional authorities is stressed in the strategy itself,” he explains. “We thought this aspect had not been sufficiently emphasised in the European Commission document, so we highlighted the fact that local and regional authorities must be involved in the process from the very beginning.”

Given the fact that the COR’s members hail from Europe’s regional and local levels, it was fundamental that the strategy’s eventual effects on local and regional authorities were properly assessed.

“National decisions are taken by governments themselves, but their actual implementation is normally down to the local and regional authorities,” Mr Cohen added. “We also noted the fact that, from an early stage of the strategy’s implementation, there will definitely be a cost implied for individuals and communities, for example if fishing restrictions are to be introduced. As such, we have suggested that the EC takes note of the fact that such costs cannot be absorbed by the individuals and communities themselves.

“Along these lines, we proposed that the EC develops assistance programmes to help such individuals and communities from an early stage, which will, in turn, help in the implementation of the strategy’s measures themselves.”

Looking at the brass tacks of the EC’s proposed directive, the main conclusion of Mr Cohen’s report is the fact that the EC’s proposed strategy implementation date of 2021, some 15 years down the road, was far too late in the day.

“If we want to take action, it must be taken now. Considering it is common knowledge that Europe’s seas are in a bad state, we felt the 2021 target date proposed by the Commission was too far away and instead proposed an earlier date of 2018, which will give us another three years. The date simply had to be shifted if we really want to protect and conserve our seas,” Mr Cohen explains.

He concedes that reaching the goals by 2018 will not be easy, given the high levels of bureaucracy plaguing the public services at both EU and local levels. Asked if the 2018 target date was not still excessively distant, Mr Cohen explained that although two amendments from COR members for the date to be brought forward even further to 2015 had been heard, it was felt that a suggestion of 2015 would have been rejected immediately by the EC.

The directive calls for a collective effort by all EU member states and, provided they all work together, Mr Cohen is confident that the targets could very well be reached by 2018.

“When it comes to Europe’s common seas, there are no borders. What one country does will inevitably affect its neighbours. That is why we have also proposed that the EC includes the Black Sea in the strategy, given the fact that Romania and Bulgaria are expected to be joining the EU in the foreseeable future.

“Overall, I think it was a good proposal and we look forward to the next few months to see what will happen,” he said.

In his report, Mr Cohen cited man-made factors such as pollution, sea contamination and the impact of unsustainable patterns of over-fishing as the primary causes of the deterioration of Europe’s marine environment, while also pointing to current methods of monitoring the state of the marine environment – describing them as “neither integrated nor complete”. Constant monitoring must be undertaken, he emphasised, while it must also be ensured that results and data are published regularly.

An EC decision on Mr Cohen’s report, which was approved almost unanimously by the COR’s plenary session, is pending. Next week, Mr Cohen will be in Strasbourg to meet the European Parliamentary rapporteur on the matter with a view to discussing the strategy and determining how the pair can work together to convince the Commission to accept the proposals tabled in Mr Cohen’s report.

Having been appointed rapporteur on the strategy, Mr Cohen will remain as spokesman on the issue and when the EC decides on the COR proposals, implementation of the directive – or a lack thereof – by member states will also have to be observed.

And although the COR is an advisory board, if it determines things are going askew, it will be able to issue more opinions when the appropriate time comes.

Asked if, as Kalkara mayor, there were any local circumstances that had prompted him to accept the post of rapporteur on the marine strategy directive, Mr Cohen explained: “You obviously keep your local situation in mind and bridge that with those of the other 24 member states. After all, I was appointed rapporteur for all the member states, and not just for Malta or Kalkara. We do have a lot of comments to make as regards our local situation, but when representing the COR you have to speak in a general language.

“Kalkara is, of course, suffering from one of the main problems affecting Europe’s marine environment – that of drainage outflows into the sea – but this is not a problem specific to Malta or Kalkara and it must be presented within the context of a general European discussion.”

Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner Joe Borg is due to issue a green paper on the EU’s maritime policy, an area that also falls within the scope of the EC strategy assessed by the COR, at the end of the month. Interestingly enough, the rapporteur selected for the green paper on Mr Cohen’s suggestion, German regional minister Uwe Doring, will be making use of the same Maltese expert used for Mr Cohen’s report, Dr Keith Grech.

“The two rapporteurs will have to keep in contact with each other, which will provide an important bridge between the two related issues. This will keep us both busy and working together,” Mr Cohen added.