Brussels, 19/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The central committee of shipowners in France, the "Institut français de la mer", the "Union des ports autonomes" and other organisations have called on the French government to request that the seat of the future European maritime safety agency be in France. In a letter to the government, these organisations consider that it is legitimate for France to ask to host the agency as its coastline is the most exposed to risks of pollution. The Commission proposed in the second "Erika" package on maritime safety to create this agency responsible for coordinating and controlling the quality of inspections carried out in the Member States. With an annual budget of EUR 1.3 million, it will be managed by about fifty experts. The proposal is being examined by the Council and the European Parliament. There are mainly differences of opinion over the independence of the agency with respect to the Commission. We recall that, although Italy has already proposed Genoa, Greece Piraeus and Portugal Lisbon, France is the only State applying that has not yet selected a port from among its candidate ports.