Brussels, 05/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 October, in Luxembourg, the EU Council reached a common position on the future of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), despite opposition from the United Kingdom. The Council thus puts an end to the negotiations conducted with the European Parliament on the basis of the Council's general approach and the Parliament's position, reached in 2011. The Parliament is expected to endorse the legislative proposal during the October plenary session. The new Council position takes up new points relating to balanced female representation on the EMSA management board and to possible reassessment of the agency's tasks by the European Commission within five years. Those tasks could be extended and the new EMSA draft regulation does confer new tasks upon it. In particular, it will be a matter of preventing pollution from shipping, but also from gas or oil installations. Other related tasks have also been entrusted to it, as long as this does not duplicate tasks carried out by other environmental agencies, the exchange of information for example. EMSA may also contribute to other European programmes. Finally, its governance is also revised, including by imposing multiannual planning of its priorities and a new procedure for the appointment of its executive director.
The British have chosen to oppose extended powers for EMSA, saying that the agency should not develop activities relating to the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources, as it does not have the necessary expertise for doing so. Also, London prefers member states to be the only ones responsible for offshore installations. (MD/transl.jl)