Brussels, 06/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - With its adoption of the report amending Regulation 1406/2002 establishing the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) on Wednesday 6 July, the European Parliament approved the European Commission proposal that will allow inter-sectoral cooperation between EMSA and the new European Border and Coast Guard Agency.
The amendments are, in the main, technical, according to a Parliamentary source, simply in order to allow cooperation with the new agency (see other article) and the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA). Thus, the text authorises the sharing of information generated by fusing and analysing data available (from ship reporting systems or other state-of-the art technologies, such as satellite data).
Initially, Marie-Christine Arnautu (ENF, France) was designated as the rapporteur. However, she was removed from this position when Parliament's transport (TRAN) committee voted her report down in the 23-24 May session. Her text put proposals that were unacceptable, a source has said, such as allowing refugees' vessels to be destroyed in order to dissuade others from coming to Europe. Following the vote, the chair of the TRAN committee, Michael Cramer (Greens/EFA, Germany), took over as rapporteur, with the approval of the coordinators of the political groups. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)