Speaking at the European Commission organised event, Commissioner Vella will stress the need for coastal and maritime tourism to coexist with other maritime activities, and the importance of long term joint planning to take into account future uses of the seas and their impact on marine ecosystems. The Maritime Spatial Planning Directive is a crucial instrument to manage the impacts of  those tourist activities on Europe's environment and coasts.

Commissioner Vella will be joined in Venice by Daglas Koraca, Deputy Minister of Tourism for Croatia, Silvia Velo, Undersecretary of State for the Italian Ministry of Environment and Paola Imperiale, Italy's Minister Plenipotentiary for Maritime Affairs.

MSP – the next steps

Last summer, the EU adopted a Maritime Spatial Planning directive which came into force in September this year. It creates the world's first legal requirement for countries to create transparent planning-at-sea systems and to cooperate with their neighbours to make that happen. EU countries are now required to transpose the Directive into national legislation and appoint competent authorities by 2016. The implementation of MSP in Member States' jurisdictional waters must be achieved by March 2021.
 
Follow the action

The conference in Venice is the 4th in a series of events dedicated to the benefits of MSP for maritime sectors. All presentations from the series, including on fisheries, shipping and energy, can be found on the website of the conference.

The next conference will be dedicated to the benefits of MSP for the environment and will take place in March 2015. Please contact MARE-E1@ec.europa.eu if you wish to be informed about future events.

For more information:

Maritime Spatial Planning

Coastal and maritime tourism