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 further 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, degradation of the marine environment, as well as attacks 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 actions comprised in the EUMSS action plan are being implemented on a voluntary basis by MS, EEAS, COM and Agencies.
Objectives
- protect EU interests at sea - citizens, economy, infrastructure, and borders
- protect our natural resources and the marine environment
- uphold international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
- react promptly and effectively to growing threats (e.g., cyber and hybrid threats)
- ensure relevant training and education to counter threats (e.g., cyber skills)
The EUMSS action plan comprises about 160 actions to be implemented on a voluntary basis by MS, EEAS, Commission and EU Agencies. These actions are divided into six chapters:
Actions
- 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.
CISE - THE COMMON INFORMATION SHARING ENVIRONMENT
CISE is a network that connects systems of European 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 level, and has entrusted its technical development and maintenance to EMSA.
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 all 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 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 as of late 2025).
- 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.
What are the main principles of CISE?
- CISE is a voluntary collaborative process in the EU 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 all EU/EEA public authorities responsible for maritime surveillance including civil and military, regional/sectoral organisations, and EU agencies.
- CISE has a decentralized infrastructure that allows every authority to maintain full control of the building blocks used for sharing information. It does not have a central storage of information;
- CISE architecture is built on a standard data model and enables the sharing of both unclassified and classified information.
- 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 maritime surveillance authorities 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) and its Action Plan, revised and adopted by the Council in October 2023. The updated EUMSS as well as the EU Strategic Compass for Security and Defence adopted in March 2022 points to the role of CISE in enhancing the EU maritime security awareness and in facilitating real-time information sharing between different maritime surveillance authorities.
As from 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 set up the Operational Phase with the aim of fully implementing CISE in the operational activities of maritime surveillance authorities.