New Maritime and Fisheries Commissioner

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso unveiled on November 27, the members of the new Commission.

Ruling PASOK deputy Maria Damanaki was nominated European commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, a key portfolio with particular interest for Greece, where commercial shipping makes a significant contribution to the economy.
Kathimerini daily (28.11): PASOK MP Maria Damanaki nominated commissioner for maritime affairs, fisheries
Greek News Agenda: EU on a new path

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European Maritime Day in Greece

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   May 20 was European Maritime Day. The sea has always played a key role in Europe’s history and its prosperity. The European continent has some 70,000 km of coastline and 22 of the EU’s 27 Member States are coastal or island countries. EU’s maritime regions are home to 40% of the population, and generate 40% of the economy. Being both a popular tourist destination and an archipelagic nation with extensive coastlines, and long tradition in shipping and maritime activities, Greece attributes special importance to this day and celebrated it with a number of events. Vice-President of the European Parliament and one of the inspirers of the institution, Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, addressed the European Maritime Day Stakeholders Conference (May 19-20) in Rome yesterday.

FRONTEX Guards the EU Borders

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Merchant Marine, Aegean and Island Policy Minister Anastasis Papaligouras recently signed a declaration for the supply of equipment with the European agency  Frontex – an EU body created to coordinate the operational cooperation between member-states in the field of border security – to curb illegal immigration into Europe. The effective handling of illegal migration is a particular concern to the EU and, of course, to Greece, whose national borders are also Schengen area borders in their entirety and EU external limits for the most part. The need for action becomes more urging since, lately, increased illegal migrant flows have been observed at the country’s eastern – land and maritime – borders. Greece participates actively in shaping a common European Surveillance System (EUROSUR) for all external land and maritime borders, in building the European Patrol Network, as well as in promoting the creation of a European Coast Guard, which was a Greek initiative. Frontex executive director Ikka Laitinen said that Greece was doing what it should but was faced with an exceptionally difficult task that had to be carried out in a difficult area and a difficult environment. Athens News Agency: Greece signs deal with Frontex; Hellenic Migration Policy Institute: www.imepo.gr & Statistical Data on Immigrants in Greece; Migrants in Greece: www.migrantsingreece.org; European Commission: Towards a Common Immigration Policy & A maritime Policy for the EU