Dear friends, distinguished guests,

Thank you all for joining us for the third annual EU Mission Ocean and Waters forum.

It is a great honour to be here with you today.  

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you, including Commissioner Zaharieva, with whom I am opening this event, His Excellency Ambassador Poivre dArvor, Honourable Member of the Parliament Mr. Clergeau, and Mr. Lamy.

We are here today because we all recognize that the ocean plays a crucial role in planetary well-being. Yet despite its significance, we still know more about space than about the seabed!

This vast underworld of biodiversity offers us many opportunities. The ocean could become a source of development for our economy and society, as well as our security.

But we need to understand it better. We need to focus on research and innovation to explore how we can utilize this potential without degrading its ecosystems, but rather regenerating them.

At the same time, we need to take a broader view and look beyond the ocean. We need to consider the water cycle in its entirety, as our inland waters and seas are interconnected.

This is why the source-to-sea approach is extremely important, especially to tackle pollution and address the challenges posed by extreme events.

This is where Mission Ocean and Waters plays an essential role, promoting the protection and restoration of our ocean and water health through research, innovation, citizen engagement, and blue investments.

So first, let me extend a heartfelt thanks to all of you - the “pioneers” and the newcomers - for heeding our call and joining this Mission, through one of the 67 ongoing Horizon-Europe projects and more still to come. And thank you for engaging in wider actions and public commitments under the Mission Charter.

My colleague, Commissioner Zaharieva, will soon elaborate on the Missions achievements. On my part, I would like to tell you how your work will factor into achieving one of our main objectives in the coming years - the European Ocean Pact!

As you all know, the European Commission will present the European Ocean Pact by the end of spring.

This pact is an opportunity to ensure coherence across all EU policy areas linked to the ocean, with clear objectives:

Developing a competitive and sustainable European blue economy;

Protecting and restoring ocean health, productivity, and resilience;

Building a robust marine knowledge framework;

Establishing a global ocean governance and diplomacy;

Enhancing the resilience of coastal communities and cities;

And putting in place a governance model that will ensure implementation.

The Pact must reflect a strong commitment to protect and restore marine ecosystems and to invest in nature-based solutions such as seagrass restoration, wetland protection, and collecting the scientific evidence that blue carbon works.

These efforts are essential not only for biodiversity but also for creating economic opportunities for our coastal communities.

The Pact must also ensure that economic growth and sustainability go hand in hand, fostering a thriving blue economy rooted in responsible and sustainable practices and a healthy ocean.

We must champion renewable marine energy initiatives, green transport and shipbuilding, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, blue bioeconomy, marine biotechnology, and eco-tourism, all within ecological limits. In the current geopolitical context, it is also important to leverage the security and defence potential of the ocean.

At the same time, we must ensure fair access to resources and opportunities for small-scale fishers, coastal communities, and emerging blue economy start-ups and SMEs.

We will do so by supporting investments, as part of our Competitiveness Compass, in new technologies that improve efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts.

And by mobilizing coastal communities, investors, innovators, and stakeholders across numerous sectors, including local authorities and civil society.

Our keyword is regeneration! We want to promote a regenerative approach to the blue economy that contributes to the restoration and preservation of ocean ecosystems and biodiversity to secure long-term sustainability and resilience.

Mission Ocean and Waters is already laying the groundwork for the Ocean Pact! It can help us meet our environmental objectives for biodiversity, pollution, and climate. And generate new economic opportunities for coastal communities and the blue economy.

Today we will hear about and celebrate how the Missions concrete achievements align with these goals.

Success in these priorities comes with two essential requirements:

Firstly, we need to further improve our knowledge through initiatives like the Digital Twin of the Ocean, supported by the Mission, which provides invaluable services for informed decision-making, boosting the blue economy, and sustainable management of marine and coastal areas.

Secondly, we must engage all relevant actors — public authorities, stakeholders, and citizens — in inclusive and participatory policymaking processes.

Furthermore, the regional approach via Mission Basin Lighthouses is vital, offering tailor-made solutions for each sea basins unique needs.

So now that we find ourselves halfway through implementing Mission Ocean and Waters, we need to ask:  “What next?

We need to address the existing innovation and investment gaps to maintain competitiveness, accelerate decarbonization, and promote circularity.

We also need high-impact, excellence-driven research and innovation to scale up new technologies, knowledge, and data.

This is vital to enhancing the competitiveness of European blue industries, supporting innovative business models, job creation, and reinforcing the EUs global leadership.

For this purpose, next year I aim to present the EU Ocean Research and Innovation Strategy, building on Missions Ocean and Waters. It will reshape and expand the Mission objectives and further align them with the priorities of the European Ocean Pact.

Thank you for your attention and commitment to this vital cause.