Greece’s support for OceanEye, the new European Marine Observatory approved by the European Commission, was expressed by the Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, in a post on social media.
As he noted, with the approval of OceanEye,“Europe is taking another significant step toward protecting the seas and utilizing marine data,”emphasizing that Greece actively supports this European initiative, which strengthens the member states’ collective ability to monitor, understand, and protect the marine environment more effectively.
According to the minister, OceanEye aims to function as a comprehensive network for the collection and analysis of marine data on a global scale, integrating existing European services such as the Copernicus Marine Service, EMODnet, WISE Marine, and WISE Freshwater.
As he noted, the data will be collected and analyzed in real time through powerful computing systems, contributing to a better understanding of marine ecosystems and improving the forecasting of extreme events.
Mr. Papastavrou also emphasized that Greece is“at the forefront of marine environmental protection,” citing the initiatives undertaken to achieve the UN’s goal of protecting 30% of marine areas by 2030. In this context, he made special mention of the creation of National Marine Parks in the Ionian Sea and the South Aegean–South Cyclades, as well as initiatives such as Amorgorama.
At the same time, he recalled that last month Greece and France launched a joint initiative to establish a group of friends for the protection of the seas within the framework of the Council of the European Union, noting that maritime policy is now a strategic priority for Europe.