European External Action Service News

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) has adopted a new agreement on the legal, environmental, economic and social governance of EU vessels’ fishing activities in Morocco and Western Sahara waters.The new Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) includes the waters of Western Sahara and aims to take into account the conclusions reached by the EU Court of Justice on this matter.To this aim, the approved text stresses the results of the consultation process carried out by the European External Action Service and the Commission, in which most of those consulted were in favour of a new fisheries agreement, while it also points out that the Polisario Front did not wish to take part in the consultation…

African governments and businesses are important partners of European shipping companies and the region has become one of the most promising global growth markets. The “blue” economy offers a lot of opportunities, and close cooperation between EU and African institutions and stakeholders is vital. European shipping companies have traditionally had a good, longstanding cooperation with African partners and they have enabled Africa to be connected to world trade. For African stakeholders, projects with the European counterparts offer employment, prosperity and market development. European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) will organise an event on 29 November in the European Parliament hosted by MEP Hilde Vautmans.

European shipowners have widened the scope of the former European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) Piracy Working Group, now renamed ECSA Maritime Security Working Group in a move aiming to keep the European shipping industry abreast of maritime developments. According to ECSA, topics under the remit of the new working group range from piracy and armed robbery at sea to cyber security, as well as the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, where European shipowners have taken center stage in the efforts to rescue migrants at sea.

Catherine Ashton, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, hosted a meeting on Tuesday in Brussels at the European External Action Service, with a number of African countries, to examine maritime threats to Africa and to discuss areas of future cooperation. "The European Union is the main supporter of African efforts to develop capacity to manage security across the continent. Maritime security off the coast of Africa is a key issue of shared concern for both the EU and Africa and we share an interest in urgently countering this threat which undermines the social, economic and security fabric of the African nations affected," said Catherine Ashton.

Suspect Pirates Apprehended by EU Naval Force Flagship Transferred To The Seychelles. On 29 January 2014, international collaboration in the fight against piracy resulted in the transfer of five men by the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta flagship, FS Siroco, to the Republic of Seychelles, with the aim of prosecuting them for acts of piracy. On Saturday 18 January, FS Siroco, in cooperation with Japanese assets in support of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF/CTF 151)…

From the January 1, 2014 the European Union will assume for one year the chairmanship of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) with Maciej Popowski, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) as EU chairperson. The chairmanship of the Contact Group is a joint Endeavour of the EEAS and the European Commission and will continue the work carried out in 2013 under the chairmanship of the United States. While the number of hostages has gone down from more than 700 in 2011 to around 50 today, the European Union said it is strongly committed to bringing this number down to zero: zero ships and zero seafarers in the hands of Somali pirates.