23 February 2026
The next EU budget: Investing in ocean resilience and thriving coastal communities
23 February 2026
As Brussels enters a decisive phase of negotiations on the next European Union Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), BLOOM, BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, Blue Marine Foundation, ClientEarth, and Seas At Risk, supported by more than 50 other NGOs from across Europe, are publishing a joint policy briefing calling for a fundamental shift in how EU public money is used for the ocean and fisheries. The next EU budget cannot be another box ticking exercise aimed at maintaining business as usual. It must deliver real policy choices that invest in ocean resilience and thriving coastal communities.
>>> Read the briefing “The Next EU Budget: Investing in Ocean Resilience and Thriving Coastal Communities” <<<
The MFF determines the EU budget for public funds channelled to national, regional and local levels. For fisheries and ocean protection, the amounts at stake for 2028 to 2034 range from 2 to 6 billion euros. This makes the MFF a powerful policy tool, but with significant risks if public money continues to subsidise destructive fishing practices that undermine fish stocks, destroy the marine environment and marginalise small-scale fishers. We need public money to support a socially fair and just transition leading EU fishers towards more wealth: ecological as well as economic.
Decades of harmful subsidies have failed the ocean and coastal communities
Overfishing remains the leading driver of the destruction of marine ecosystems. Yet for decades, public subsidies have artificially increased fishing capacity and sustained parts of the fleet that would otherwise be unprofitable, fuelling a continuous race for catches even as marine resources declined to levels that should have triggered restraint.
Our briefing highlights the structural imbalance in how EU fisheries funding has been distributed. Small scale coastal fishing vessels represent 76 percent of the EU fleet, yet they have received only around 20 percent of EU fisheries funds, with the rest going to large scale fleets. This bias matters for coastal communities because small scale fisheries generally deliver more jobs per tonne landed and more added value, while operating with a lower ecological footprint, yet they still face persistent barriers to accessing support.
At the same time, public money continues to prop up the most destructive and energy intensive parts of the fleet instead of driving a credible transition. Studies show that destructive segments of the fleet, such as bottom trawlers, would not be profitable without subsidies.
Subsidies are also undermining the ocean’s role in the climate
The ocean is central to climate stability. It generates 50 percent of the oxygen we need, absorbs 30 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, and captures 90 percent of the excess heat generated by these emissions. But its resilience is being weakened by high impact fishing practices that damage seabed habitats and disrupt carbon rich ecosystems. Our briefing underlines that harmful subsidies do not only accelerate biodiversity loss and harm fish stocks, they also work against the EU’s climate objectives when they keep financing destructive and fuel intensive fishing models.
A crucial negotiation for the ocean, now underway
The legislative package underpinning the next MFF is being negotiated now. Our joint briefing demands concrete changes to key regulations that will shape how EU money is budgeted, tracked and spent, including the Tracking and Performance Regulation, the European Fund for economic, social and territorial cohesion, agriculture and rural, fisheries and maritime, prosperity and security Regulation (NRP), and the Fisheries and Ocean Specific Regulation. It also stresses that safeguards must apply across the whole MFF architecture, including other major funds, so that harmful activities are not excluded from one budget channel while remaining eligible elsewhere.
Two priorities to guide the next EU budget for the ocean
The joint briefing sets out two priorities that should guide the next MFF and that would also support genuine simplification by making eligibility clear and enforceable:
- MFF money should benefit all EU citizens by funding ocean conservation and restoration and by supporting small scale, low impact fishers.
- MFF money should be protected against abuse and used in a transparent and accountable manner, ensuring that money is not spent on those who violate EU law and that it is spent only on activities aligned with EU objectives.
Our recommendations in practice
We call for the next MFF to match the scale of the ocean crisis and the EU’s own climate, biodiversity and social commitments.
1) Ringfence ocean funding around two priorities
In the NRP framework, national programs for fisheries and the ocean should allocate the money as follows :
- 50% for ocean conservation and restoration, including a reserved amount for data collection and fisheries control and enforcement,
- 50% for a just transition towards a regenerative blue economy, including a reserved amount to support small scale, low impact fishers and strictly conditioned support to transition away from destructive practices such as trawling.
2) End subsidies that fuel overcapacity, overfishing, and industrial operating costs
Prohibit subsidies that increase capacity or sustain industrial operating costs, including direct fossil fuel subsidies, and exclude support for destructive fishing methods such as bottom trawling unless funding is strictly designed to transition away from these methods
3) Make EU funding conditional and enforceable
Integrate the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies into EU law and enable funding to be interrupted or suspended when Member States fail to comply with the Common Fisheries Policy and other applicable rules.
4) Guarantee full transparency on who gets public money and why
Publish harmonised, detailed, non anonymised data on all beneficiaries and funded activities across EU funds and State aid through a single EU wide public database managed by the European Commission, and ensure transparency throughout planning and implementation.
A budget that funds the future, not the status quo
The decisions taken in the coming months will determine whether the EU budget becomes a real lever for transition or whether it continues to finance the drivers of ocean destruction. The solutions exist, and they start with clear eligibility, targeted support for less impactful and energy intensive fishers, and full accountability for the use of public money.