Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1547312
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 OCTOBER 2026 OPINION Keith Azzopardi Tanti Europe finally has a plan for its coasts. Now Malta has to make it count Minister for EU Funds, Social Dialogue and Consumer Protection ASK anyone at the Marsaxlokk market on a Sunday morning what the sea means to them, and you will get a long answer. It is where the luzzu goes out before dawn, where the catch comes back, and where half the vil- lage seems to gather by midday. Multiply that across Malta and Gozo and it becomes clear why, in a country our size, the coast is where a great deal of our eco- nomic life actually happens. That is why I read the Euro- pean Commission's first EU Strategy for Coastal Commu- nities with more than passing interest. Adopted in June to- gether with a companion strat- egy for islands, and presented by Commissioner Costas Kadis at a conference in Paphos on 26 June, it is the first time Brus- sels has drawn up a dedicated plan for the people who live along Europe's shores. There are around 95 million people, spread along some 70,000km of coastline in 22 member states. Much of what the strategy de- scribes will sound familiar to anyone living here. Our fishers and fish farmers supply local tables and export markets. Ho- tels in Sliema, St Paul's Bay and Marsalforn depend on the state of the water in front of them. The Grand Harbour and the Freeport at Birżebbuġa con- nect us to the rest of the world, and for thousands of families, the Gozo Channel crossing is simply how they get to work, to school or to hospital. When the coast comes under strain, people feel it quickly, in their jobs, their bills and their daily routine. The commission has built its plan around three ideas: Prosperity, resilience and live- ability. The plan stops treat- ing coastal policy as a trade- off between the economy and the environment. In a place as small and as crowded as ours, that trade-off was always false. A degraded bay loses its tour- ists. An overfished stock loses its fishers. On prosperity, the strategy talks about a more diversified blue economy, with support for blue bioeconomy clusters, local supply chains and new business models. This is where Malta's real opening lies. We already have strong maritime services, a ship registry that ranks among the largest in Eu- rope, and an established aq- uaculture sector. The gap is further down the chain. A fam- ily fishing business or a young company working on marine technology often struggles to find the finance and expertise it needs to grow, and to do so without adding to the pressure on the resources it depends on. Resilience is the harder con- versation. Extreme weather is becoming more frequent across the Mediterranean, and a good part of our infrastruc- ture, from coast roads and promenades to harbour walls, sits only a few metres above the waterline. Storm Harry, which battered Malta's south-western coastline and caused signifi- cant damage, is a clear remind- er of the growing challenges our coastal communities face in the wake of extreme weather events. In this regard, I reiter- ate my satisfaction at the pro- posed allocation of €3.7 million to Malta from the EU Solidarity Fund, a measure that will sup- port our country's continued recovery and help address the damage caused by the storm. The resilience strategy pro- poses working with the Eu- ropean Investment Bank on coastal adaptation projects, and managing marine protect- ed areas jointly with fishermen, scientists and local authorities. Both ideas are worth taking up here. Preparing for these risks now will cost a fraction of re- pairing the damage later. Liveability is an essential con- sideration that deserves par- ticular attention. Residents of coastal localities understand the importance of striking the right balance between devel- opment and the preservation of qualities that make these communities attractive places to live. The strategy's empha- sis on housing, skills develop- ment and access to services is therefore welcome, and these priorities should also inform the planning and assessment of coastal development projects in Malta. The coastal strategy should also be read alongside its sis- ter document on islands. The islands strategy deals with what it means to be separat- ed by water—high transport costs, small domestic markets, and the struggle to keep young people and essential services. The coastal strategy deals with what it means to live from the water. Malta is both, and Gozo doubly so. For years we have argued in Brussels that rules designed for large continental economies often fit us badly. These two documents give us, for the first time, an EU text to point to when we make that case. The timing matters. Negoti- ations on the EU's next long- term budget, which will run from 2028, are close to being concluded, and the funding programmes that come with it are being designed now. A strategy carries weight only if money follows it. Beyond an initial €50 million for Ocean- Eye, a new marine data initi- ative, much of what the new strategy promises will depend on the choices made in those negotiations. As the ministry responsible for EU funds, our task is to make sure Malta's coastal pri- orities are written into those programmes from the outset. Funding is only worth bidding for if it changes something people can see such as a clean- er bay, a stronger breakwater, a fishing business that makes it to the next generation. That is the test I intend to apply to every application we put for- ward. Malta should welcome this strategy, and then hold Eu- rope, and ourselves, to it. The recognition is overdue. Turn- ing it into something people in Marsaxlokk, Marsalforn or Birżebbuġa will actually notice is now the job in front of us. The plan stops treating coastal policy as a trade-off between the economy and the environment. In a place as small and as crowded as ours, that trade-off was always false Storm Harry, which battered Malta's south-western coastline and caused significant damage, is a clear reminder of the growing challenges our coastal communities face in the wake of extreme weather events