The European Transport Ministers, meeting at the EU Council in Luxembourg on Tuesday 18 June, adopted their negotiating position (‘general approach’) on the revision of the Regulation on the mandate of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) (see EUROPE 13430/10).
“The text focuses the Agency’s action on its core tasks, while not excluding it from taking on additional tasks if and when Member States and the European Commission deem it necessary and appropriate in light of developments in the maritime sector”, stressed Georges Gilkinet, Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Mobility, during the public debate. However, for these additional tasks, the budgetary implications for Member States should be taken into account.
“In terms of governance, we have sought to ensure that the Management Board is involved and has an appropriate influence on decision-making”, he added. The importance of the Member States within the Board was strengthened in the text, with the number of European Commission representatives reduced from 4 to 2, the Commission’s right of veto on certain decisions abolished and the two-thirds majority vote extended.
Some twenty ministers have expressed their approval, arguing that this solution avoids several bureaucratic steps. However, Magda Kopczyńska, the European Commission’s Director-General for Mobility and Transport, voiced her institution’s concerns.
“We regret that the EU Council’s proposal limits the oversight of the Agency by the Commission and by Member States”, she said. She considered that the Board should perform an important oversight of EMSA’s functions, given the expansion of its mandate.
In her view, the European Commission should retain decision-making power over human resources and the budget, in line with the horizontal solution for all EU agencies. “We need to avoid mismanagement and reputational risks for the EU. There is a clear request from the Court of Auditors and the European Parliament for more active oversight of all agencies”, she argued.
Inter-institutional negotiations with the new European Parliament can begin under the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council, which starts on Monday 1 July.
Read the general approach: https://aeur.eu/f/cmt (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)