A recently conducted study examined the effects of this policy and found that the most important sector – fisheries – is the only one that is not growing. While tourism accounts for the largest share of the EU’s ocean economy and wind energy is growing the fastest, aquaculture is stagnating and fisheries are declining. In the competition for marine space, wind farms clearly have the highest priority for the EU, increasingly crowding out Europe’s already struggling fishing industry.
Also left unmentioned is the strategic problem of outsourcing our fish production to third countries, especially China – a growing trend that threatens European food security.
According to ESN Group MEP and member of the Fisheries Committee (PECH) Siegbert Droese, “both threats – to the EU’s energy security and to its food supply – highlight the lack of strategic thinking in EU policy. For years, EU bureaucrats have placed climate neutrality targets above the security and prosperity of European citizens.”
