New Framework Assesses Policy Coherence in EU Marine Governance
21.10.2026
Marine governance in the European Union is fragmented, undermining efforts to address interconnected challenges such as biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and the unsustainable use of natural resources. Policies developed across different sectors and levels of governance can contain gaps, overlaps and inconsistencies. A new study in the journal Marine Policy introduces the Policy Coherence Framework, a structured methodology for systematically assessing how EU marine policies interact. This practical tool aims to help analysts, policymakers, and researchers identify where policies work against each other – and how they could be designed to reinforce one another instead.
“Policy coherence is particularly important in marine governance because marine ecosystems are interconnected and environmental pressures cross jurisdictional boundaries such as national borders. Inconsistent policies can create implementation bottlenecks and stakeholder conflicts, and ultimately contribute to environmental degradation. By contrast, working towards policy coherence can create synergies between policy measures, reduce administrative burdens, and strengthen institutional resilience,” says Ben Boteler, RIFS researcher and co-author of the paper.
A closer look at policy interactions
Existing assessment methods largely focus on whether policy objectives align, but offer little analytical guidance on how policies interact in practice. The Policy Coherence Framework addresses this gap with a structured, qualitative approach. Developed by the EU-funded CrossGov project (Coherent and Cross-compliant Ocean Governance), it combines two complementary elements. The first offers a structured approach to assess coherence between policy objectives and policy measures, incorporating legal design factors. The second explains coherence outcomes by examining underlying institutional factors, including governmental organizations, science-policy-society interfaces, and stakeholder involvement.
The researchers applied the first element to two clusters of EU marine policy. One is a biodiversity cluster: the Habitats Directive, Birds Directive, Water Framework Directive, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and Nature Restoration Regulation. The other is a cross-sectoral cluster linking biodiversity and offshore wind: the Renewable Energy Directive III, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Habitats Directive and Birds Directive. The analysis shows that coherence challenges often arise not only from incompatible objectives but also from differences in legal form, bindingness, timelines, exemptions, and the measures actually in place.
“For example, renewable energy targets are backed by strong implementation mechanisms such as accelerated permitting and the presumption of overriding public interest, while biodiversity objectives often rely on safeguards that operate as constraints on development. This can lead to uneven prioritization in practice,” says Cristian Passarello, RIFS researcher and co-author. “The Policy Coherence Framework makes these interactions explicit so that they can be better addressed.”
A critical time for European ocean governance
The framework arrives at a politically significant moment, following the announcement of the European Ocean Pact in June 2025, and with an Ocean Act, intended to consolidate EU marine policies under a unified framework, expected within the coming year. At the same time, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive and the Common Fisheries Policy are all being revised. Against this backdrop, the authors argue that robust methods for assessing policy coherence are urgently needed.
Publication:
Platjouw, F. M., Sander, G., Friedrich, L., Trubbach, S., Puharinen, S.-T., Passarello, C., Soininen, N., Kyrönviita, J., & Boteler, B. (2026). Assessing policy coherence in EU marine governance: A legal and institutional methodological framework. Marine Policy, 193: 107205.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2026.107205
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