Activities of Norica NICOLAI related to 2012/2318(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the maritime dimension of the Common Security and Defence Policy PDF (236 KB) DOC (139 KB)
Amendments (21)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 a (new)
Citation 15 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 14 March 20131 on EU - China Relations, ____________ 1 P7_TA-PROV(2013)0097
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the importance of global maritime flows for the Union has increased exponentially as a result of economic growth, globalisation and growing global interdependence; whereas the geostrategic maritime balance is fast changing, with emerging powers adopting access denial strategies to constrain traditionaltechnologies and strategies to assert themselves in regional and global maritime areas, constraining the former US and European presence at seaabsolute access; whereas a more complex and diffuse maritime security environment with a loose and varied application of international treaties makes effective multilateralism and international cooperation in regulating maritime affairs more difficult;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas globalisation alsoseveral factors such as poverty, lack of development, low levels of state control and law enforcement and the vulnerability of routes encourages the proliferation of illegal maritime non- state actors who threaten vulnerable maritime routes and infrastructure and exploit the weaknesses of a fragmented local, regional and global maritime governance system; whereas legal and illegal activities at sea have been growing in number and in complexity as a result of this multiplication of actors present at sea; whereas this puts pressure on the EU to invest in a holistic approach in order to address the complexity of transnational challenges, which no Member State can meet alone;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the global outlook on naval capabilities and power projection is fast changing, with emerging and established powers increasingly unwilling to adhere to UNCLOS principles or submit to international arbitration or regulation; whereas, most significantly, China pursues its String of Pearls policy, endeavouring to increase and extend its presence at sea for a multitude of stated and unstated reasons, from securing trade and energy routes to controlling marine resources and maritime critical infrastructure, clashing with the maritime interests of virtually all of its neighbours in the South and East China Seas; whereas, as a global actor, the EU must consider security challenges and possible joint responses worldwide, from the nearby Mediterranean Sea and West Atlantic areas to the Pacific, via East and West, and from the Arctic to the Antarctic;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas a European Maritime Security Strategy (EMSS) is needed in order to mainstream the stakes, risks and opportunities that the European Union faces at sea, including protection for European citizens and their assets; whereas that strategy, while grounded in European values and principles, must be forward-looking and proactive and mobilise all relevant institutions and actors, both civilian and military;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. RecallStrongly believes that the EU has a vital interest in a secure, open and opeclean maritime environment that allows the free passage of commerce and people and the peaceful, legal, fair and sustainable use of the oceans' riches, that maritime flows represent the lifeblood of European trade and are conduits of European powerrosperity and influence; that the security of European citizens is an EU and Member States' responsibility and that the EU has the ambition to be a provider of global security, which includes security of the seas and at sea; and that the EU institutional framework, both of civilian and military nature, should, therefore, be transformed in order to provide for the objectives, means and capabilities necessary to meet that responsibility;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Notes that the increasing use of maritime shipping routes, booming sea trade, expanding routes and the sustainable exploitation of maritime resources such as fish and energetic resources are all as much of a potential and opportunity for the EU as a risk and should be considered as such; sees the European Union as having the potential to be a leading actor in the secure and sustainable exploitation and exploration of the seas and ocean, both regional and global, and therefore needing a strategy, vision, the right tools and the political will to engage in this task;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Recognises that the European Union already possesses manysome of the necessary means and instruments to respond to global maritime security challenges and to the need for a secure and stable environment, through the EEAS and the European Commission, the financial instruments, development cooperation, humanitarian assistance, crisis management, trade cooperation, and other relevant tools for action; notes, however, that most of the technical and material assets are in the hands of Member States and their willingness to enhance their cooperation is paramount for the future of European maritime security;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Invites the High Representative, the Commission, the Council and all other bodies participating in the relevant task force to elaborate an EU Maritime Security Strategy that involves, and is centred on, articulation and coordination among all European actors and states relevant to maritime safety and security; urges the Commission and the HR/VP, accordingly, to address the shortcomings of the 2007 Integrated Maritime Policy, which failed to make use of the full potential of a truly integrated operational approach to all EU agencies, bodies and instruments which could assist in improving results and cutting/sharing costs; is of the view that the EMSS should be the offspring of the European Security Strategy and a sibling of the Integrated Maritime Policy and that its level of ambition and means and capabilities should be determined not just by direct maritime interests but by the need to regulate maritime flows and access on the high seas worldwidestart from existing documents but be more ambitious and wider in scope, having in mind that the subject matter of its regulation, maritime security, will affect in the short, medium and long term, virtually all other components of European security and prosperity;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Calls on Member States to closely assist and actively engage with the EEAS and Commission in elaborating the new EMSS, with the aim of making efficient use of all their varied assets, as well as have in mind the identification and creation of new capabilities through pooling and sharing; furthermore, considers that the new strategy should also integrate joint bilateral or multilateral force creation initiatives such as the Franco-British Declaration of November 2010;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Highlights the fact that an integrated maritime approach such as this, which combines civilian instruments and military tools and encompasses both internal and external aspects of security, is already taking shape at national level in some Member States as well as being applied between certain Member States bilaterally, and should therefore be reinforced at Union level; stresses the role that can and should be played by maritime nations in fostering positive regional maritime integration; stresses that regional maritime integration initiatives can and should lead to the pooling and sharing of critical naval assets in order to meet the EU's capacity needs;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes that direct and indirect risks to the security of the EU are currently posed by non-conventional threats and actors intending to proliferate terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the southern neighbourhood and further into the African continent, taking advantage of difficulties in enforcing the law in maritime zones, coastal areas and in general resulting from state failure, state fragility or lack of state control; notes that these threats and actors dangerously interact or sometimes are integrated within organised criminal networks which engage in human trafficking and other illicit activities, such as trafficking in drugs and arms, including small arms and light weapons and WMD components, drugs and weapon trafficking, thereby worsening political and humanitarian crises, obstructing social and economic development, democracy and the rule of law, fuelling deprivation and causing migration, internal displacement of people and immense human suffering;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Warns that states which are unwilling to cooperate with the international community and abide by international treaties and standards and which have the geographical position to block trade routes, as well as having the technological and military capabilities to do so, are one of the major maritime security concerns at this time; considers that all diplomatic attempts should by made by the EEAS and the VP/HR to engage with them in dialogue and cooperation;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Is alarmed by increasing evidence that terrorist networks and non-state actors are acquiring sophisticated maritime capabilities, including submarine capabilities or radar and detection technologies, as well as having access to logistic data pertaining to the international shipping industry, thus significantly improving their threat potential, indicating an expansion of their activities close to Europe, notably on both sides of the South Atlantic Ocean;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Is seriously concerned by the fact that WMD components and technologies can be and are being illicitly transported by sea, with the help and facilitation of rogue states or terrorist networks;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. Considers that the perpetuation of frozen conflicts near various maritime areas, such as the South Caucasus, South Eastern Mediterranean or the Sea of Japan, is one of the leading sources of instability worldwide, endangering transport and energy routes, promoting weapons trade as well as facilitating the activities of non-state actors such as criminal networks and terrorist cells;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Believes that today the Black Sea representis one of the most important energy routes to Europe and that the main risks it poses to the EU's stability smaritime regions bordering the EU, with a high potential for risks in the medium and long term, given its high value as an important transport routem from protracted regional conflicts, such as the one between Georgia andor goods and energy, its proximity to potentially explosive areas of frozen conflicts, such as the contested territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the related conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi; stresses that, given Europe's dependence on the Black Sea for the transit of energy supplies, the EU has a strategic interest in deterring regional actors from brinkmanship and, for that purpose, may need to mobilise European naval assets;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19 a. Underlines that the energy security of a large part of the European Union is heavily dependent on the security of gas and oil routes going through and near the Black Sea; considers that more efforts are needed, addressed in part towards supplying countries but also aimed at countries bordering the Black Sea, to ensure a secure transit as well as mutually beneficial projects;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19 b. Stresses the importance of engaging in regional multilateral approaches in the Black Sea Region, notably through the Black Sea Synergy, as well as other initiatives, having in mind also the need to tackle human, drugs and weapons trafficking and criminal organisations;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)
Paragraph 33 a (new)
33 a. Considers that a way forward for a possible peaceful resolution of the tension in the areas of the South and East China Seas is the negotiation and joint implementation of codes of conduct for the peaceful exploitation of the maritime areas in question, including the establishment of safe trade routes and quotas for fishing or attribution of areas for resource exploration; considers that the peace initiative put forward by Taiwan in 2012 is one such good example and that the EU, via the EEAS and the VP/HR, can act as a mediator on the issue;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Calls for the creation of a truly European coastguard, based on the experience already gained by Frontex and the European Patrol Network, acting within a remit of jurisprudence stemming from the JAI cooperation, aimed at protecting EU borders, European citizens but also the lives of people in danger on the coastal waters of the European Union;