Newsletter June 2021

The European Environment Agency (EEA) published the annual Bathing Water report for 2020. Based on the EU’s Bathing Water Directive (BWD), the quality of European bathing water has greatly improved in the last decades. The Directive was first adopted in 2006 and it lays down provisions for the monitoring and management of bathing water quality, and the provision of information to the public. The yearly report is prepared by the EEA in cooperation with the…

On 9 June, the Commission published the June infringement package. In this package, the European Commission decides to pursue legal action against Member States which have been found to be incompliant with their obligation under EU law in various policy areas. On the topic of biodiversity, the Commission found 18 Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia) incompliant with various provisions…

Since 1973, The Ocean Race’s competitors have been sailing across the globe, and on 29 May, the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe started from Lorient, France and finished in Genova, Italy on 19 June. As the final leg was coming to an end, on Wednesday 16 June The Ocean Race Summit Europe was held online, bringing together sailors, experts and policymakers to discuss ways to tackle urgent threats to the seas. Patron on…

On 11 June, EBI Secretary-General Philip Easthill spoke at the Global Tourism Forum Summit in Bodrum, Turkey. Organised by the World Tourism Forum Institute, a London-based think-tank focused on the tourism industry, EBI was invited to discuss the future of the boating sector in Europe and the key challenges of the industry after Covid-19. With over 6 million boats in European waters, 36 million regular boaters and over 280,000 direct employees, the European boating industry…