Maritime Security
EU MARITIME SECURITY STRATEGY (EUMSS)
Maritime security is vital to the EU and to its Member States. Together, the EU’s Member States form the largest combined exclusive economic zone in the world. The EU economy depends greatly on safe and secure oceans: over 80% of global trade is seaborne, about two-thirds of the world’s oil and gas supply is either extracted at sea or transported by sea, and up to 99% of global data flows are transmitted through undersea cables. To ensure effective ocean governance, to protect our oceans and seabeds and to unlock the full potential of the sustainable blue economy, the global maritime domain should be secure.
The EU Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS), revised in October 2023, provides the framework for the EU to take action to protect its interests, its citizens, and economic activities at sea. The strategy ensures that the EU has a wide range of effective tools at its disposal to address new and evolving security threats and challenges, including growing strategic competition for power and resources in the sea basins around the EU and beyond, shadow fleet activities, as well as cyber and hybrid attacks, including those targeting critical maritime infrastructure.
The revised strategy builds on the original strategy of 2014, the Joint Communication of the Commission and EEAS (March 2023), and extensive input of the Member States. It was approved by the Council in October 2023. The EUMSS is linked to and contributes to the implementation of relevant initiatives such as the Preparedness Union Strategy[1], the Cable Security Action Plan[2], the European Ocean Pact[3], the Action Plan on Drone and Counter Drone Security[4]. It will also be linked to the upcoming revised Arctic Strategy and the upcoming EU Security Strategy. The upcoming UXO Strategy to comprehensively address unexploded ordnance dumped at sea will fall within the broader scope of the EUMSS.
Objectives
- protect EU interests at sea - citizens, economy, infrastructure, and borders
- uphold international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
- enhance maritime domain awareness
- react promptly and effectively to growing threats (e.g., cyber and hybrid threats)
- develop dual use capabilities including common manned and unmanned platforms
- ensure relevant training and education to counter threats (e.g., cyber skills)
EUMSS action plan comprises approximately 160 actions, which are implemented on a voluntary basis by Member States, the European External Action Service, the European Commission and EU Agencies. Grouped under six strategic objectives, these actions include:
- Step up activities at sea
- organise an annual naval exercise at EU level
- reinforce existing EU naval operations
- develop further coastguard in sea basins around the EU
- expand the Coordinated Maritime Presences concept to new maritime areas of interest
- Cooperate with partners
- deepen EU-NATO cooperation
- enhance partnerships with likeminded countries, regional and international organisations
- deploy EU liaison officers to maritime information centres in non-EU countries
- promote dialogue and best practices through the coast guard function forums
- Enhance maritime domain situational awareness
- strengthen the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) and MARSUR
- reinforce coastal and offshore patrol vessel surveillance
- Manage risks and threats
- conduct regular live maritime exercises involving civil and military entities
- monitor and protect critical maritime infrastructure and ships from physical and cyber threats
- tackle unexploded ordnance and mines at sea
- develop further awareness and preparedness to tackle threats linked to climate change and environmental degradation
- Boost capabilities
- develop common requirements and concepts for defence technologies in the maritime domain
- step up work on projects such as the European Patrol Corvette or improving anti-submarine capabilities
- Educate and train
- boost hybrid and cyber security qualifications notably on the civilian side
- conduct training and joint exercises open to non-EU partners
Next steps
Three years after the strategy is endorsed by the Council (i.e. by October 2026), the Commission and the High Representative will submit to the Council a joint progress report with contributions from the Member States.
INTER-AGENCY COOPERATION ON COAST GUARD FUNCTIONS
The EU is supporting Inter-Agency cooperation on coast guard functions, namely, to enhance maritime security and safety across Member States.
Since 2016, the three EU agencies with maritime responsibility (EFCA, EMSA, Frontex) have jointly developed, pooled and shared resources, capacities and capabilities in to address five areas of action: 1) information sharing, 2) surveillance and communication services, 3) capacity building, 4) risk analysis, and 5) capacity sharing.
One of the good examples of fruitful inter-agency cooperation is the compilation of the practical handbook for coast guard cooperation, which was adopted as the Commission Recommendation on 20 July 2021 (EU 2021/1222). The handbook is a practical guide for EU civilian and military authorities carrying out coast guard functions, facilitating close cross-border and cross-sector collaboration among them.
Reinforced cooperation on coast-guard functions is one of the key commitments of the revised EUMSS.
As part of cooperation on coast-guard functions, the Commission supports the European Coast Guard Functions Forum (ECGFF) and the Mediterranean Coast Guard Functions Forum (MedCGFF).
The European Coast Guard Functions Forum (ECGFF) is a nonbinding, voluntary, independent and non-political forum whose membership includes the Heads of the Coast Guard Functions or equivalents of each EU maritime nation and associated Schengen countries, the European Commission and agencies with related competencies in Coast Guard Functions. The overall aim of the Forum is to study, contribute to and promote understanding and development of maritime issues of importance and of common interest related to Coast Guard Functions across borders and sectors, both civil and military, and to contribute to progress in the various CGF activities
The Mediterranean coast guard functions forum (MCGFF) is a non-binding, independent and non-political forum. It brings together the heads of national maritime authorities from all riparian countries of the Mediterranean basin as well as and the EU and international bodies. It aims at developing mutual understanding and fostering cooperation to address common problems related to maritime safety (e.g. illegal migration), maritime security (e.g. maritime surveillance, fisheries control) and environmental protection (e.g. oil spill response).
CISE - THE COMMON INFORMATION SHARING ENVIRONMENT
CISE is a network that connects systems of European agencies and EU/EEA Member States authorities involved in various operations in the maritime domain. CISE enables them to exchange relevant information across borders and sectors in a seamless, automated and secure way, contributing to enhanced maritime domain awareness at EU level, thereby increasing the effectiveness of operations at sea. The European Commission steers CISE at the policy leveland has entrusted its technical development and maintenance to EMSA.
In 2026, more than 30 EU maritime authorities are connected to the CISE network. 12 nodes are currently operational, with 8 nodes being in progress, notably with SATCEN and FRONTEX.
Why is CISE needed in the EU maritime domain?
Maritime authorities across the EU carry out many different operational tasks and for this purpose they gather maritime data and information through their sectoral platforms and IT systems. CISE is a network facilitating information sharing among all these authorities’ systems. This is possible due to the unique CISE architecture which was designed based on the needs of maritime authorities from various sectors, both civilian and military.
What are the main principles of CISE?
- CISE is a voluntary collaborative process seeking to further enhance and promote relevant information exchange based on a spirit of cooperation and is not enforced by legislation.
- CISE brings added value and complementarity to the existing and future maritime data systems, services and sharing processes. It fosters the re-use and enhancement of the authorities´ currently used systems, while avoiding duplication.
- CISE fosters cooperation and synergies among EU/EEA authorities (both civil and military) as well as EU Agencies involved in various operations/tasks in the maritime domain, including maritime surveillance.
- CISE has a decentralized infrastructure that allows every authority to maintain full control of the building blocks used for sharing information. It does not store information.
- CISE’s architecture is built on a standard data model and enables the sharing of both unclassified and classified information. The classified network is expected to be operational in 2026.
- CISE allows full control of the information sharing policy: the access rights of the information shared are controlled by the authority that owns the data.
Background information
Enhancing information exchange between the diverse authorities carrying out operations in the maritime domain is one of the key strategic objectives of the European Union. The development of the maritime CISE was first proposed in 2009 and has been refined since then through various interoperability and security research projects and supported by subsequent Commission Communications and Council Conclusions.
Since 2014, CISE is one of the key actions supporting the implementation of the EU Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS). The EUMSS and its action plan (revised in 2023), as well as the EU Strategic Compass for Security and Defence adopted in March 2022 explicitly describe the role of CISE in enhancing maritime domain awareness at EU level, and in facilitating real-time and secure information sharing between different maritime authorities.
Since April 2019, EMSA in close coordination with the Member States and relevant EU bodies is engaged in the implementation of CISE. In 2024, based on the results achieved in the CISE Transitional Phase (2019-2023), the European Commission launched the Operational Phase with the aim of fully implementing CISE in the operational activities of relevant authorities across the EU.
Since January 2026, CISE is part of the new founding regulation of the European Maritime Safety Agency (Regulation (EU) 2025/2434 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 November 2025 on the European Maritime Safety Agency and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 [2026] OJ L, 2025/2434, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2025/2434/oj)
Unexploded Ordonnance (UXO)
In June 2025, President von der Leyen presented the European Ocean Pact at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice. The Pact recognises UXO as a major threat to the marine environment, to human safety and as an impediment to the deployment of critical maritime infrastructure, including ocean renewable energies. The Pact calls for a coordinated and phased UXO removal strategy, starting in the Baltic and North Seas, and later expanding to other EU sea basins, including the Black Sea.
The Commission has already begun groundwork for this strategy. It will build on lessons from EU-funded projects and focus on three priorities: a strong regional approach, technology-driven solutions, and reinforced partnerships with organisations such as HELCOM and CBSS.
This marks a huge shift: UXO clearance is no longer just a technical issue but a political priority for Europe. The Baltic region is seen not only as the starting point but also as an innovation hub and model for scaling remediation efforts across Europe’s seas. The Commission is committed to working closely with Member States and regional partners, including HELCOM, to advance UXO’s safe management cleanup.
[1] https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/circabc-ewpp/d/d/workspace/SpacesStore/b81…
[2] EUR-Lex - 52025JC0009 - EN - EUR-Lex
[3] EUR-Lex - 52025DC0281 - EN - EUR-Lex
[4] d2161887-6c06-424c-a8e6-efd46f50e4e8_en