The European Commission has published a Call for Evidence for an upcoming EU Strategy for Coastal Communities, expected to be released in Q2 2026 as a Communication. The initiative is led by DG MARE and will be delivered alongside a complementary Strategy for Islands as a single policy package.
Coastal communities are home to around 90 million EU citizens and face overlapping pressures, climate change, environmental degradation, housing shortages, overtourism, and economic dependence on a narrow set of industries, particularly in fishing and aquaculture. The strategy directly feeds into the European Ocean Pact (adopted June 2025), of which support to coastal and island communities is one of six key priorities.
How to participate?
The Call for Evidence is open to everyone, with a particular invitation to coastal residents, local and regional authorities, blue economy actors, NGOs, academia, and youth organisations. The Commission is seeking input on three main questions:
- what are the key challenges and priorities for coastal communities;
- how do existing EU policies perform;
- how should the new strategy complement them; and what concrete measures should the EU deliver?
Contributions can be submitted in any of the 24 official EU languages via the Commission's Have your Say portal. The consultation is open for four weeks.