The importance of protecting the marine environment of the Mediterranean was highlighted by Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs for European Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis in his speech during the 3rd Plenary Session of the Conference on the Future of Europe, convened today in Strasbourg to debate the recommendations by National and European citizens’ Panels on climate change and the environment.
In particular, Mr. Varvitsiotis pointed out that Europe is surrounded by sea and the Conference cannot fail to discuss "how we will upgrade the Mediterranean environment, in which more than 200 million European citizens live", and "how we will ensure sustainable fishing, while protecting the natural habitat of the Mediterranean, which today is in danger and is one of the most important tourist destinations on the planet."
To this end, the Alternate Minister underlined that "in Greece we are proceeding with declaring specific areas, which we aspire to reach 30% of the marine environment, as areas of high environmental protection" in order to ensure sustainability.
In his speech, Mr. Varvitsiotis also referred to the need to exploit the natural gas reserves of the Mediterranean, emphasizing that "we cannot have European citizens face the dilemma "cheap or green energy ", but we shall have to look at ways to produce green energy", as Europe has chosen natural gas as a transitional fuel.
January 22, 2022