La Blue Economy dell’Unione europea: evoluzione e prospettive di un nuovo modello economico “circolare” green e blue oriented

The European Union is increasingly aware of the importance of its actions in promoting a new circular model of economic, social and environmental development based on the conservation of marine ecosystems and the restoration of degraded ones; this is because they generate significant direct economic benefits, including in terms of employment in sectors such as tourism, fisheries, transport and energy production through the installation of offshore wind turbines. For these reasons the EU, in order to effectively combat environmental pollution and protect and restore biodiversity, is on the forefront in the effort to implement the transition toward an economy more and more circular and free from the exploitation of the natural resources. On this basis, after having framed the issues concerning the Blue Economy in the wider and more complex context of the European Green Deal, this study focuses on the analysis of the main actions recently taken by the EU in this sector. In particular, the study will try to provide an answer to the question of whether and to what extent the environmental policies adopted in recent years by the European Union in the field of the Blue Economy are actually (or not) marking a real and avant-garde paradigm shift towards a new circular economic model and whether these can represent, in the medium and long term, a real turning point in the European integration process, in line with the values and objectives of the EU.