Quotations of Karmenu Vella

If you think about it, the blue bioeconomy is much like a genie in a bottle. Today it still fits into a relatively small space, but make the conditions right and it will break out in all of its blue-tinted magic and make more than a few of our wishes come true. This is such a promising sector. Unlocking its potential in Europe is one of the objectives of our 2018 bioeconomy strategy. -- Karmenu Vella, Blue Bioeconomy Forum, 5 June 2019.

Karmenu Vella

Thank you, Gesine – and not just for today. Thank you for the many debates and initiatives of the past few years. Thank you for building bridges between our two institutions and creating genuine collaboration. Above all, thank you – to you and to all other SEARICA members as well – for putting the ocean so high on the political agenda of this Parliament. -- Karmenu Vella, Maritime Achievements and Future Challenges, 9 April 2019

Karmenu Vella

I want to close by sharing with you an image ... -- Karmenu Vella, Maritime Achievements and Future Challenges, 9 April 2019

Karmenu Vella

On the eve of the 2019 European elections, I am more convinced than ever that we need to tell citizens what the EU is doing for them. For their communities. For their families. For their future. And the ocean is a great place to start. After all, as President Juncker is fond of saying: we want to be big on the big things. And what could be bigger than the ocean? -- Karmenu Vella, The Future of the Blue Planet, 19 March 2019

Karmenu Vella

Ladies and gentlemen, I have five grandchildren. Four of them are in primary school. The youngest is only one year old. Perhaps that’s why the following story struck such a particular chord. I was reading a BBC article about the recent climate demonstrations here in Belgium. Groups of primary schoolchildren were marching with their grandparents. One child held up a hand-written sign. It said: “2080: what are polar bears?” -- Karmenu Vella, High-level conference on climate change and oceans preservation, 19 February 2019.

Karmenu Vella

Climate change is the most important challenge of this century. And time is quickly running out. All of us here in this room know it. So do the 100,000 people who marched for climate action in Brussels on a chilly winter’s day last month. And the tens of thousands of Belgian schoolchildren who continue to take to the streets week after week. And the thousands of German and Dutch teenagers and students who are organising themselves under the hashtag “Fridays for Climate”. And the 80,000 French citizens who joined climate demonstrations on the last Sunday of January. And perhaps most impressively, at their head, Greta Thunberg. Greta is the 16 year old girl from Sweden who became an online sensation and a real world actor. She told world leaders at Davos last month to start taking action - now. -- Karmenu Vella, High-level conference on climate change and oceans preservation, 19 February 2019.

Karmenu Vella

Whenever I think of the footprint, I am taken back to my childhood. I grew up by the sea, in Zurrieq in Malta, and every day I saw the same miracle. I'd go home in the evening from a beach where the traces of the day were plain to see, and I would return the next morning to find the beach wiped clean, all footprints erased. The same miracle every day. The beach is still clean by the way, and if you are in the area, I recommend it. But as we all know, life isn’t so simple. Our footprint on this planet cannot be magically erased. It's our reality, it's our responsibility, and our society needs to take ownership of its consequences. -- Karmenu Vella, Environmental footprint conference: From vision to action, 23 April 2018

Karmenu Vella

500 kilograms per second. This is the amount of waste that is thrown into the seas and oceans. Since I started talking, 7000 kilos of litter have made their way to the sea. By the time I finish it will be 450 tons. Commissioner Vella, Plastic Recyclers Europe, 19 June 2015

Karmenu Vella

Elephants and rhinos are being similarly depleted. Some 30,000 elephants are still being killed illegally every year. At this rate, children born today will see the last of the wild elephants and rhinos die before their 25th birthday. Commissioner K Vella, The EU Action plan against wildlife trafficking, 26 February 2016

Karmenu Vella