After Slovenia, France has taken over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 January 2022. During its 6 months mandate, France will push forward its programme called “Recovery, Strength, and a Sense of Belonging”.
The French Presidency
programme has three objectives: to build a more sovereign Europe, to create a new European model for growth and building a humane Europe.
Regarding fisheries and more widely the aquatic environment, a particular focus will be paid to protection and restoration. In this context, the Presidency is committed to advancing several initiatives, notably:
- The Presidency will ensure that the EU steps up its efforts to preserve and restore biodiversity and will begin discussions on the upcoming regulation aimed at establishing a new legal framework for the restoration of healthy ecosystems.
- Similarly, the presidency will propose a political debate on the Common Fisheries Policy and its implementation, and continue the work on the revision of the fisheries control regulation.
At the international level, the Presidency will strive to defend a high level of ambition representing the EU at the 5th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 5), which will take place at the end of February and which should make it possible to make progress towards a
global agreement to initiate negotiations on a binding international treaty on marine waste and plastic pollution.
France plans to prepare Council conclusions to define an
ambitious EU position for the second segment of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), to be held in Kunming in 2022.
The Presidency also plans to organise a ministerial conference on
nature and biodiversity in cities and will celebrate the
30th anniversary of the Natura 2000 network at the end of February in Strasbourg.
Finally, a key moment of the Presidency will be the
One Ocean Summit, on 11 and 12 February 2022 in Brest, which will stress the importance of ocean governance, ocean knowledge, the blue economy, the strengthening of marine protected areas, the fight against marine pollution (particularly plastic) and the development of blue finance.
More information
here.