THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS  calls on the European Union to make the sea a new common ambition at the heart of the process of relaunching European integration;  calls for the next Framework Programme to have a target of 10% of projects making a significant contribution to marine and maritime research objectives;  takes the view that Europe should also invest heavily in sectors such as renewable marine energy and marine biotechnologies, where the challenge is to attain world leadership;  supports the Blue Careers and maritime blueprint initiatives, which seek to enhance knowledge of, and the attractiveness of, maritime vocations and to orient the traditional maritime vocations towards new opportunities;  calls for the establishment of a European blue economy investment fund/mechanism. This fund, a maritime Juncker plan 2.0, could have two complementary intervention methods: direct financing at European level of structural and high-risk projects, and the establishment of regional investment funds;  intends to encourage better utilisation of regional policy for the benefit of the blue economy, and to promote cross-fund activities and interregional cooperation;  proposes that maritime affairs become the responsibility of a vice-president of the European Commission, who would be assisted by a task force and would be responsible for the preparation and cross-cutting implementation of the White Paper on "The sea at the heart of Europe".