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The creation of European Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS) led to a revival of the role of the sea seen as a strategic and economical optimum area. The crucial role played by the sea in international politics, led to a redefinition of national security policies and of the Community. The strategy adopted is used to define the risks and threats that the coastal Countries will face and the relative solutions. Most of them are already put in practice with previous projects or inserted in integrated security policy. What emerges from this document is the necessity of a joint policy to defend the European maritime domain.
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Mediterranean Report #5
June 2015
The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
Alessandra VERNILE
MA in International Relations
(LUMSA – Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta, Rome)
June 2015
Copyright© 2015 by Mediterranean Affairs
All right reserved except for brief quotations in a review. This Paper must not be reproduced in
any form without permission in writing form the publisher.
Mediterranean Affairs is a Think Tank aiming to provide analyses that cover the Mediterranean
area. By carrying out extensive researches, the staff studies various issues of international policy
focused on defense and security, regional stability, and transnational challenges such as
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The main objective is to provide detailed information to the public through the website, writing
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and interviews with the media.
1 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 2
European Maritime Security Strategy .................................................................... 4
The Italian Navy and the control of the Mediterranean borders ....................... 6
Maritime Surveillance and Information Sharing .................................................. 9
Final considerations ...............................................................................................12
About the Author ...................................................................................................14
Summary
2 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts
and the satellite surveillance
Ms. Alessandra Vernile
The creation of European Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS) led to a revival of the role of
the sea seen as a strategic and economical optimum area. The crucial role played by the sea in
international politics, led to a redefinition of national security policies and of the Community.
The strategy adopted is used to define the risks and threats that the coastal Countries will face and
the relative solutions. Most of them are already put in practice with previous projects or inserted in
integrated security policy. What emerges from this document is the necessity of a joint policy to defend
the European maritime domain.
In these last years, with the Arab spring, the role of the Mediterranean Sea has become of
primarily importance in the definition of security policies to prevent the risk of terroristic infiltration
and to stop the massive wave of migrants from Northern Africa. The task of the European Navies
is to monitor the coasts, thanks to special missions and with the help of satellite data.
Introduction
The European Union is
surrounded by seas and oceans that
can bring the Member Countries to
face challenges, threats and risks.
At the same time, this geographic
position is also remunerative for
Europe, still shaken by the
economic crisis. The maritime
domain is not so easy to manage,
starting from the security functions,
at the basis of the safety of each
country and of the Union itself,
which are performed by a huge
number of actors.
The efforts made by the
Member Countries to control the
maritime borders or to defend their
interests in the sea are not enough
if they are not implemented by joint
actions, not only among the
European states, but also with a
strong cooperation with third States
and international or regional
organizations. The European
external action can provide useful
3 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
lessons for
further actions
in defense of
the maritime
spatial area.
This because
EU has
strategic
maritime
interests that
need to be
safeguarded
and that could
be used to
strengthen the European Common
Security Defense Policy.
Of 28 Member States, 23 are
coastal ones and 26 are Flag States.
These States are responsible for the
control of 90,000 km of coasts.
Besides, there are 1.200 commercial
ports, 8.100 flagged vessels and
4.300 maritime companies
registered. In addition to this, we
can find 764 ports and 80
Registered Security Operators
appointed by the EU. The 90% of
the European Union external trade
is transported by sea. Each year
more than 400 million passengers
stop in European ports and the EU
fishing fleet is the biggest in the
world. 1
1 European Commission Press Release,
Towards an EU integrated approach to global
(footnote continued)
The fact that
there is more land
than sea under the
EU jurisdiction,
urges the creation
of a strategy that
could bring all the
relevant actors of
the sector to a
cooperation for a
better
management of
the Union’s
interests.
The Baltic Sea, the Black Sea,
the Mediterranean Sea , the Atlantic
Ocean and the Arctic, needs of a
tailored strategy because each
region has its own characteristics,
economics, risks and threats to
face. The Integrated Maritime
Policy is designed to improve
cooperation and governance
promoting growth and
development strategies, ranging
from climate change, aquaculture,
blue economy, ocean energy,
pollution to maritime strategy.
The aim of this dossier is to analyze
the monitoring of the Mediterranean
coastal borders by the Italian Navy,
also with the help of satellite
maritime security, Brussels, 6 March 2014
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-
224_en.htm.
Source: The European Atlas of the Seas
4 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
monitoring, in the light of the
European Maritime Security Strategy.
European Maritime Security
Strategy
On June 2014, the European
Council adopted the European
Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS)
with the aim of creating a common
framework useful to create and ensure
specific policies for the authorities at
both level, national and European. In
this way, it calls for a common
response from Europe to the maritime
threats and risks, protecting also the
European maritime strategy and its
interests. Defining a common frame
could be a great starting point to
understand in which specific sector it
is necessary to have a shared
perspective, starting from the national
security policies and the control of the
maritime borders, seen as strategic
infrastructure both for the national
security and the European one.
Therefore, the reinforcement of the
link between internal and external
security aspects of the maritime policy
of the European Union and the civil
and military cooperation in this area
seem to be the priorities. Once the
countries have identified the European
strategic interests and the
corresponding threats, through this
Security Strategy it would be easier to
provide the basis for the creation of a
joint instrument in order to create a
real common maritime strategy2.
The core value that brought to the
creation of this document and of the
linked Action Plan is the importance of
safeguarding the EU’s strategic
maritime security against external
menaces. Since the 2012, with the
Limassol Declaration 3 , the idea of
improving the maritime governance
and of increasing the cooperation
started to be not only related to
political plays, but also became more
and actual, because of the economic
2 European Commission – Maritime Affairs,
Maritime Security Strategy. What is this?.
http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/
maritime-security/index_en.htm. 3 The Limassol Declaration was signed in 2012
and it brought to the creation of a maritime
and marine agenda, related to the “Europe
2020” objectives. The sectors it focuses on
are: marine renewable energy, aquaculture,
blue biotechnology, coastal tourism and sea
bed mining. A particular attention was given
to the Blue Economy development, through
research and the development of marine
knowledge, maritime training, cost-efficient
cooperation on maritime surveillance,
improving the maritime spatial plan and the
development of a common framework.
European Commission, Declaration of the
European Ministers responsible for the Integrated
Maritime Policy and the European Commission, on a
Marine and Maritime Agenda for growth and jobs the
“Limassol Declaration”, 8 October 2012.
http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/d
ocuments/limassol_en.pdf.
5 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
crises and the insurrections in
Northern Africa. The need of building
upon or strengthening programs,
structures or legislations, was stressed
in 2013 by the European Council
which enumerates a long list of threats
and risks that can affect EU’s maritime
security.
The European maritime interests
are fundamentally based on the
necessity of preventing the conflicts in
the area and on the preservation of
peace to strengthen the international
security. It can become possible only
thanks to cooperation between
intergovernmental and international
activities. At a national and European
level, the protection of critical
infrastructures, as for instance harbors
and terminals, is the key that can help
the control of the borders to prevent
illegal activities and illegal fishing. At
the same time, the threat that all the
European coastal and non-coastal
countries have to face is the risk of
terroristic attacks and other illegal acts
against ships or crossed borders and
organized crimes, which can take place
considering especially the recent years’
rise in human trafficking and piracy or
armed robbery in our seas. Each
member state has its own legislative
corpus and structures to react against
any kind of external menace, but a
multilateral action that can integrate
the weak European policy has still
been considered more effective. The
four basic principles that can help the
creation of a net between the two
levels of action are:
1- The cross sectorial approach;
2- The functional integrity;
3- The maritime multilateralism;
4- The respect for rules and
principles4.
On this basis, it was possible to
create an operative strategy that can
assure a real protection of the Union
interests. The EUMSS includes as its
goals: the identification and the
articulation of main strategic maritime
interests of the Union; the
identification of the maritime threats,
challenges and risks to the strategic
maritime interests of EU; the
organization of the response to these
threats through the common policy
objectives and principles5.
On December 16th, 2014, an Action
Plan to implement this strategy was
4 For an open and secure global maritime
domain: elements for a European Union
maritime security strategy [JOIN (2014) 9
FINAL - 6 March 2014]: http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1395676070971&uri
=CELEX:52014JC0009. 5 Council of the European Union, European
Maritime Security Strategy, Brussels, 24 June
2014.
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l
=EN&f=ST%2011205%202014%20INIT.
6 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
adopted. The Plan contains 130 actions
organized on five levels:
I. External action;
II. Maritime awareness,
surveillance and information
sharing;
III. Capability development;
IV. Risk management,
protection of critical
maritime infrastructures and
crisis response;
V. Maritime security research
and innovation, education
and training.
Considering the seas a common
maritime spatial area has some
benefits: first, it will help reduce
conflicts between the sectors involved
in the activities or in the management
of the sea, creating synergies among
them. This way, the clearer rules and
the transparency practices can
stimulate economic investments and a
better coordination between the
administration of the countries and the
cross-border one, strengthening the
security of the maritime borders. The
concept of cooperation is fundamental
not only in relation to the member
states, but also to third countries and
to the International Organizations.
Identifying the areas of
complementarity between the EU and
UN and its agencies can improve the
partnerships in the maritime security,
as well as the link between EU and
NATO to guarantee a better
coordination and developed
cooperative relations on security
aspects regarding the maritime safety,
on the basis of the Common Security
Defense Policy (CSDP). According to
the Action Plan, coordinated programs
focused on the maritime security
should have been promoted, fostering
in particular joint exercises and training
in line with the EU training exercise
and the EU Military Rapid Response.
This approach on maritime security
issues should has been applied also on
the relations with third states or
regional organizations, such as G8,
African Union, Union for the
Mediterranean, ASEAN, together with
the cooperation with IMO, ILO and
INTERPOL, on specific threats6.
The Italian Navy and the control
of the Mediterranean borders
A particular focus is reserved to the
Mediterranean Sea, which has always
been a strategic point. Bounded by 20
countries, not all under the European
jurisdiction, it seems to be the most
complex area to manage. Therefore,
cooperation is essential to guarantee
maritime activities and to improve sea
safety and security. The integrated
6 Council of The European Union, European
Union Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS) -
Action Plan, Brussels, 16 December 2014.
http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/
maritime-security/doc/20141216-action-
plan_en.pdf.
7 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
maritime policy for this area embraces
all the sectors useful to good
governance in the sea, through the
creation of working groups or the
launch of projects. The Mediterranean
Sea has always been a cultural, social
and economic hub and Italy is in the
middle of it.
The role of Italy in controlling the
Mediterranean coasts has always been
fundamental, not only because of the
Italian geographical position but also in
defending, together with the other
European and foreign navies, the
borders of the Union and to prevent
the infiltration of terrorists on the
European soil. Menaces can come
from Northern Africa, Balkans, Turkey
and Syria.
The role of the Italian Navy is
based on the Defense strategic
concept, which entails that it is
necessary to configure a military
instrument capable of being inserted in
the international defense system. The
maritime component should be able to
guarantee both security of national soil
and of the borders, as well as the
defense and stability of the
Mediterranean area. The international
cooperation has, for the Navy, an
important role in its policy and in its
way of action. The internationally
recognized role of the Italian Navy,
allowed to share its know-how with
the other European navies, assures
Italy a significant position in many EU
flagged missions.
Source: Eurostat
8 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
The activity of surveillance is one
of the basic tasks carried out by the
navies, in particular the control of
migration flows, control of borders
and all the missions with anti-terrorism
characteristics. Italy, for its
geographical position, is the first
landing place for all the migrants
coming from critical areas. The
irregular migrants flow (all the data are
updated to 2012)7, represents the first
threat for the coastal Countries. In the
last two years has been registered a rise
in the number
of landing on
the
Mediterranean
coasts, in
conjunction
with the Arab
Springs. Italy
has always been
in first line in
the fighting of
illegal human
trafficking. In
particular, Italian Navy has led with
Coastal Guard, Financial Guard,
Carabinieri Corps, Police and other
State corps that control the migrant
flows, the operation Mare Nostrum.
Mare Nostrum has the double mission
7 Eurostat, Migration and migrant population
statistics.
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-
explained/index.php/Migration_and_migrant
_population_statistics.
of guaranteeing the control of the
Sicily Channel and the rescue of the
human beings coming from Northern
Africa. The Mission has started on 18
October 2013 and it was replaced by
European mission Triton (originally
named “Frontex Plus”) on November
1st, 2014. From the beginning of the
Mission, which was for the major part
funded by Italy, hundred thousand
people have been saved. The Italian
Navy was heavily assisted by Frontex
operations “Hermes” and “Aeneas” 8
and EUROSUR.
Financially, part
of the mission
was support by
the EU External
Borders Fund
with 1.8 million
euros.
Thanks to
this operation,
the Italian Navy
has
demonstrated its capacity in
monitoring EU coasts and it has been
able to use the “Maritime Situational
Awareness”, which had guaranteed the
constant control of the maritime
activities. This instrument has been
8 European Commission, EUROSUR: new tools
to save migrants' lives at sea and fight cross-border
crime, Bruxelles, 19 June 2013.
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_MEMO-13-578_en.htm.
9 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
backed up by the international
cooperation project “Virtual Regional
Maritime Traffic Centre” (V-RMTC),
which has contributed to the creation
of a database of raw data, composed
by the non-classified data from other
30 countries, European and not.
On November 1st, 2014, the
operation Mare Nostrum has been
replaced by the Frontex Joint
Operation - “Triton”. The aim is to
guarantee the security of the
Mediterranean borders. This mission,
developed in the frame of the CSPD
and EUMSS, according to many voices
is not successful as the Italian one,
since it is completely different starting
from the financial asset: 15 out of 28
Member countries can voluntarily
contribute. All the European armed
Corps are involved, on a turnover,
with two fixed wing surveillance
aircrafts, three patrol vessels and seven
teams of guest officers for
debriefing/intelligence
gathering and
screening/identification
purposes9.
Maritime Surveillance
and Information Sharing
A great support to the
Navies comes from the
information sharing, it can be
noticed that a part of the
European Maritime Policy is
the Integrated Maritime Surveillance.
The existence of this policy helps the
European countries to acquire data to
share between civilian and military
authorities. In this way, it will be easier
to promote the cooperation and the
coordination in all the maritime
sectors.
Since 2013, Frontex, European
Maritime Security Agency (EMSA) and
the EU Satellite Centre (EUSC)
established a service for combined
application of surveillance tools,
including the ship reporting systems,
satellite imagery and surveillance
planes. The possibility of controlling
the coasts and the access to accurate
information are fundamental for the
creation of a common maritime
9 European Commission, Frontex Joint
Operation 'Triton' – Concerted efforts to manage
migration in the Central Mediterranean, Brussels, 7
October 2014. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_MEMO-14-566_it.htm.
Source: forzearmate.org
10 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
awareness. Different systems have
been implemented.
On 2012, EMSA launched
SafeSeaNet, which allowed the vessel
traffic monitoring and information
sharing with the aim of potentiate the
maritime infrastructures safety and
security, the maritime environment
protection and the efficiency of
maritime traffic and maritime
transport, all in the frame of the EU
legislation. Thanks to this project, a
network for maritime data exchange
has been set up, linking authorities
from across the Union. Other agencies
have developed other projects to
guarantee a joint communication
among the Member Countries in case
of maritime incidents or the
monitoring of fisheries activities, like
the Common Emergency and
Information System (CECIS) and the
Vessel Monitoring System.
In the framework of the CSDP, the
European Defense Agency (EDA) has
created the Maritime Surveillance
network (MARSUR) and the European
Border Surveillance System
(EUROSUR). This last initiative has
been designed for supporting Frontex,
creating an efficient structure allowing
to exchange information for more
secure borders and to create reaction
capabilities in order to fight cross-
border crimes, tackling irregular
immigration and to prevent loss of
migrant lives at sea. The mechanism
that helps the good functioning of this
system is to be found in the network
of NCCs, National Coordination
Centers, which coordinate the border
surveillance at national level, allowing
the sharing of information, on the
basis of an input/output mechanism.
Many data have been collected thanks
to the action of satellites used at
European and national level. The
Member States can use this shared
data, which have been merged together
in the EUROSUR Fusion Service,
using optical radar satellite technology
to identify suspected boats or people
in danger 10 . The operations are
controlled by EMSA and the EU
Satellite Centre (EU SatCen). This
centre provides its expertise in the field
of Earth observation satellite imagery
application for security11.
Another example of cross-sectorial
approach for the Maritime Integrated
Surveillance is the European Marine
Observation and Data Network
(EMODNET), an initiative launched
by the DG-MARE to support the
marine awareness in the frame of
“Europe 2020” strategy. EMODNET
works as forum that gathers
organizations, which assemble
European maritime data and metadata
10 The example of migrants or illegal human
trafficking explains the work made by the
Service. 11 European Union Satellite Centre – website.
http://www.satcen.europa.eu/.
11 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
from different sources in order to
make them more cohesive. The
purpose is to make the marine data
resources available both for individuals
and organizations.
In line with the objectives of the
EUMSS, the European Earth
Observation program “Copernicus” is
now used to work with a
comprehensive approach when using
space and satellite technology for the
cross-sectorial
maritime
surveillance
services. The
images sent by
the sentinels
provide an
important help
both to the
marine
monitoring and to
the emergency
and security
services, in the
optic of a multi-
sectorial approach12.
The increasing necessity of
cooperation and need of data sharing
urged the creation of the Common
Information Sharing Environment
(CISE) within which all the Member
States and relevant actors in this sector
12 Copernicus, Security System.
http://www.copernicus.eu/main/security.
can share data. CISE represents one of
the core blocks of the EUMSS,
because it guarantees the creation of a
maritime awareness at European level.
It is important to know what is
happening in the sea and to potentiate
the security, by means of data
collection and sharing them, which
could facilitate the work of the single
Countries and of the EU’s agencies.
Since 2010, the CISE roadmap13 was
elaborated, which proposes guidance
and priorities for
actions both at
national and EU
levels. The focus
is on how to
enhance
information
exchanges from a
double point of
view, civilian and
military, to make
it more efficient,
with a better
quality and
responsiveness.
13 European Commission – Maritime Affairs,
Integrating Maritime Surveillance common
information sharing environment (CISE),
Luxembourg, Publications Office of the
European Union, 2010.
http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/i
ntegrated_maritime_surveillance/documents/
integrating_maritime_surveillance_en.pdf.
Copernicus’ Sentinel. Source: telespazio.it
12 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
Final considerations
The creation of common security
strategy dedicated to the maritime
policy has been a fundamental measure
to take because of the growing role of
the seas and the oceans throughout the
last years. This with reference to the
importance of the Mediterranean Sea,
where the uprisings, the instability and
the migrants waves, represent a big
threat for all the coastal countries,
especially Italy.
The European Maritime Security
Strategy can help in the search for a
commonality of interests in a
complicated strategic area, where a
strong partnership could lead to the
construction of a big part of the
Common Security and Defense Policy.
Improving the regional and local
assets, will simultaneously improve the
Member Countries relations in the
perspective of a common strategy to
build together in order to protect the
European maritime domain and its
strategic interests.
By improving the maritime security,
some benefits will derive from: first of
all the empowerment of the border
countries, a better marine environment
with a consequent improvement of the
sea bottom and a more secure fishing.
If the European Union invests part of
its energy and its economic budget in
the maritime management, it will
register an increase of the economic
income, producing more occupation
and new economic sectors to develop.
To obtain this scenario, the
coordination and the cross-sectorial
approach is fundamental as well as the
security of the coasts and the maritime
infrastructures. It is not necessary to
build new structures or promulgate
new laws to insert in the national
normative corpus, but it can be
sufficient to strengthen the existing
relations and to implement the already
existing instruments, in order to
enhance the security and stability of
the maritime domain.
This will conduct to a stronger
cooperation between the external and
internal security dimensions of the
sectorial policies and the CSDP. A
particular attention must be reserved
to the migrant policies, now a priority
in the European political agenda. After
the exploit of the last year, the massive
arrival of the migrants from Northern
Africa has endangered the coastal
Countries. The military response seems
to be the only way to stop this
humanitarian emergency. The
Operation Mare Nostrum was not
enough to stop this big wave, even if
the results were good compared to the
number of people dead or saved in the
previous operations with the same
characteristics. The fundamental
problem is the economic aspect of the
mission itself. The solution proposed
by Frontex to substitute this operation
with Triton, was not enough as it is not
also enough the other solution
proposed by Mrs. Mogherini to
13 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
implement EUROMARFOR MED in
order to stop this emergency. The
problem has to be solved not only
from a military perspective, but also
from a humanitarian perspective.
Creating a line of military ships with
the function of a maritime custom will
not solve the problem, it is necessary
to start from a direct intervention on
the coasts of the countries where the
major number of departures was
registered, combining it with a political
solution to increase the control of the
rescued people in the hosting
countries.
A strengthening of the relationship
between the space sector and the
defense sector has to be demanded if
we want to achieve a greater
cooperation in satellite monitoring of
coasts and seas and in particular, a
more prominent role in handling
emergencies.
Joint capabilities can lead to a
brand new and better-coordinated
cooperation, boosting the military
effectiveness and improving the ability
to act and react.
14 The European Maritime Security Strategy: the monitoring of the coasts and the satellite surveillance
June 2015
About the Author
Alessandra Vernile, MA in International Relations at
LUMSA in Rome.
She attended a post-graduated course in “Economic
security, geopolitics and intelligence” at SIOI in Rome. After
this course, she started working as Event Manager at NATO
Defense College Foundation, collaborating at the organization
of two successful conferences.
On February 2015, she won a scholarship sponsored by SIOI and ASI (Italian
Space Agency) that allowed her to participate to the post-graduated course in
“Institutions and space policy” at SIOI.
Ed. Mediterranean Affairs®
www.mediterraneanaffairs.com
Info: [email protected]
Cover image source: http://marina.difesa.it
