Commissioner Sinkevičius is tackling environmental threats in the Baltic region

On Monday, 28 September, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, is organising a high-level conference ‘Our Baltic’ to address the environmental threats in the Baltic region. The Conference will focus on how to reduce pressure on the Baltic Sea and boost existing commitments in protecting it, as well as undertake new actions to tackle these problems. Commissioner Sinkevičius said: “Action is needed in the Baltic to improve its state and preserve its biodiversity. This is why I took the initiative to bring the relevant decision makers to the table, and see how we can reduce pollution and litter, promote sustainable fishing, and roll out a common approach to reducing the inputs of nutrients. I look forward to our discussions during this high-level event.” The most predominant threats in the Baltic Sea stem from excessive nutrients leading to eutrophication, high fishing pressure on some stocks in the past, marine litter, pollutants and contaminants including pharmaceuticals. It will aim to translate the Commission’s ambitions defined in the European Green Deal, the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork Strategies into concrete European measures for specific sea basins. The event will combine a high-level Ministerial session and stakeholder discussions. Ministers for Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries from the eight EU Member States in the region (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden) will also sign a Ministerial Declaration which will build on reinforced implementation of existing EU legislation in these countries and commit to reaching new targets agreed in the new EU strategies. You can follow the event online here. The latest version of the programme and further details are available on the website.