EU Member States to tighten maritime surveillance cooperation
(GOTHENBURG) - European Union nations agreed Monday to beef up maritime surveillance along Europe's coastlines, Swedish Defence Minister Sten Tolgfors said.
EU defence ministers, meeting in Gothenburg, southern Sweden, looked at ways to interconnect national civilian and military radar, information and satellite systems to better deal with incidents at sea.
"What we have agreed today is to share and utilise the information that already exists," Tolgfors, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, told reporters.
"Interlinking existing systems is a cheap but effective manner," he said, after hosting talks with his EU counterparts.
The ministers looked at a data-sharing model being used by nations around the Baltic Sea, where around half a million ships transit each year.
Tolgfors said the biggest challenge would be "not the financial but the legal one. We have different legislations" among the 27 EU nations when it comes to maritime surveillance and exchanging data.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana backed the plan, saying "coordination is fundamental, sharing of information is fundamental. And ... it's not very expensive."
The European Defence Agency has already set up a working group of five admirals to study the question, and they are expected to release a preliminary report at the end of next month.