With little more than a year until the deadline, all countries of the European Union are failing on their legal obligation to ‘take all necessary measures to achieve Good Environmental Status of EU seas by 2020’ (Marine Directive, Article 1(1)). In August, the European Commission itself stated that we are unlikely to achieve Good Environmental Status of EU seas by 2020 unless Member States take more definitive action.

Led by Seas at Risk, we and more than other 20 eNGOs therefore urge the EU Ministers of the Environment to re-commit to the goal of the Marine Directive at the upcoming European Council of Environment Ministers on 20 December 2018 and in particular to commit to the ‘20 measures for clean and healthy seas by 2020’ the European NGO community proposes.
Along with this joint call to action, the campaign “ Save #OurBlueLung ” has been launched to motivate the EU Ministers and meet the upcoming 2020 deadlines.

Read the full letter and the 20 measures  here.