Paris, 11 May 2010 – At the invitation Philippos PETSALNIKOS, Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, the European Security and Defence Assembly (ESDA) held a seminar on European Maritime Surveillance in Athens on 10-11 May. The event took place at the King George Palace Hotel, Athens, and was chaired by Konstantinos VRETTOS (Greece, Socialist Group), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and National Defence Committee of the Hellenic Parliament, and Doug HENDERSON (UK, Socialist Group), Chairman of the ESDA Defence Committee.

Michalis CHRYSOHOIDIS, Minister of Citizen Protection, underlined Greece’s efforts in the area of maritime surveillance. Monitoring maritime borders is an extremely important task in such a complex regional context, in particular with regard to illegal immigration and the various forms of trafficking in drugs, arms, etc. Greece is a transit country to other central and western European states. Police and border guards are on constant alert, monitoring maritime and land borders and contributing to Greece’s role in implementing European policy to safeguard the Union’s borders.

At the first sitting on the maritime situation: risks and threats – surveillance needs, Efthymios MITROPOULOS, Secretary-General, International Maritime Organisation (IMO), referred to the gravity of the phenomenon of piracy at sea worldwide and the role of the IMO in helping deal with this problem.

Carlos MARTIN representing Fabrizia BENINI, European Commission, Director for the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, DG MARE, gave a presentation on the EU’s efforts to establish an integrated policy on maritime surveillance. The Assembly’s Defence Counsellor raised the serious difficulties there were with illegal immigration by sea and the EU’s efforts through its External Borders Agency, FRONTEX to coordinate the operational cooperation between Member States and provide particular added value to their national border management systems.

The second sitting discussed the many initiatives taken by the European Union in the area of maritime surveillance.

Vice-Admiral Patrick HEBRARD, European Defence Agency (EDA) set out the conclusions of the report by the Agency’s “Wise Pen Team” as follows:
- The preferred approach is regional. There must of course be a shared, global information (data transmission) network giving an overall picture capable of more detailed enlargement for regional level mission purposes.
- Progressive implementation should permit information and intelligence exchange by first connecting up National Maritime Coordination Centres (NMCCs) with one another. In the final phase, a Regional Coordination Centre (RCC) would assume the predominant coordinating role.
- Any meaningful improvement in maritime surveillance will depend upon a step change in attitudes towards information sharing: not only is there is a need to know, but a need to share.

Willem DE RUITER, Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), discussed the role of the agency and more specifically the setting up of an information and surveillance system based on three complementary systems: Safe SeaNet, Long Range Identification and Tracking et Clean Sea Net, the aim being to integrate them into a single one SafeSeaNet Tracking Information Relay and Exchange System (STIRES).

Vice-Admiral Jean-Marie VAN HUFFEL, Adviser to the Secretary-General for the Sea (France), Director of the pilot project “BlueMassMed” discussed the importance of an EU Commission (Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) sponsored pilot project at European level on the integration of Maritime Surveillance in the Mediterranean Area and its Atlantic Approaches in Europe’s various regional maritime areas.

The third sitting, “Fighting piracy – a special case”, was devoted to detailed discussion on countering this serious problem. Dimitrios PAPANDREOU, Political Counsellor on International Security Issues, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Greece, gave a presentation. While stressing the gravity and the widespread nature of the problem he welcomed the extremely significant coordinating role being undertaken by the European Union.

Brigadier General Giovanni MANIONE, EU Council Secretariat General, discussed the many political problems there were and EU relations with the countries around the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa and highlighted the EU’s various efforts to assist Somalia and its neighbours. He stressed particularly the question of help for Kenya in bringing piracy cases before its national courts.

Rear-Admiral Bartolomé BAUZÁ, Deputy Commander EUNAVFOR Atalanta, Northwood, UK, and Commander Antonio PAPAIOANNOU, ex-First Force Commander, discussed the operational aspects of Operation Atalanta stressing how effective it had been, thanks in particular to the contribution made by the maritime patrol aircraft and good cooperation with other naval forces in the area.

Rear-Admiral Marc DU BOUCHERON, NATO Headquarters (SHAPE), spoke about Operation OCEAN SHIELD (TF 508).

At the fourth sitting on the role of European navies and administrative departments, the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, Philippos PETSALNIKOS, made a personal appearance in order to emphasise the importance of maritime surveillance and counter-piracy action at European level.

Rear-Admiral Georges BOSSELUT of the French Navy, and Captain Francisco CHIAPPETTA, of the Italian Navy, explained the way maritime surveillance was organised in their respective countries and the various measures at sea taken by their governments (police, immigration, customs, counter-piracy and other forms of action).

At the final sitting industry representatives described the involvement of private firms in the implementation of maritime surveillance measures.

General Lennart KÄLLQVIST, Vice-President, Group Strategy, Head of European Affairs, SAAB AB spoke about the data transmission networks covering the Baltic Sea.

Rear-Admiral Jean-Marie LHUISSIER gave an account of the THALES Group’s work on the production of European maritime surveillance networks.

Rear-Admiral Pierre-Yves LE BAIL (French Navy, retired), Senior Operational Adviser, EADS Defence and Security, gave a round-up of ongoing EU programmes, highlighting the complexities arising owing to the large numbers of bodies involved and the need for interoperability between all systems for obtaining a single, fully up-to-date data base.

Nina-Louisa REMUSS, European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), Vienna, spoke about the use of space resources in maritime surveillance.

F. Javier BARCALA, INDRA Group, gave a presentation on the part played by unmanned air platforms in this area and their development.

Michel MOREL, DCNS Group (French shipbuilding), presented the surveillance systems of the DCNS Group which works on European Commission projects with a view to establishing information networks that are capable of detecting suspicious behaviour by ships or other craft.

In his concluding remarks, Doug HENDERSON welcomed the role played by the ESDA in organising such a seminar which had provided the opportunity for a very fruitful dialogue on the important subject of maritime surveillance.