The European Integrated Maritime Policy: The next five years

At the time of writing, the EU has just finished appointing a new cohort of senior representatives for the period 2014-2019. This includes appointing a Commissioner with a newly defined remit for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the members of the various Committees of the European Parliament with competences related to maritime affairs. These individuals will invariably spend at least part of their first months in office identifying their respective priorities for the coming years. This commentary seeks to contribute to these deliberations by making concrete suggestions for priorities that might be considered as regards the future of the EU's Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP). Seven years since its launch, the IMP remains very much a work in progress. Drawing on recent academic studies of the EU's various ocean related policies this commentary argues that two of the greatest weaknesses of the IMP are the sectoral nature of priority-setting and strategy-making as well as the lack of a funding tool to implement its aims. Two concrete proposals are made, specifically aimed at the incoming EU leadership, which seek to address these weaknesses and to realize the aims articulated in the IMP.