Parliament connects the maritime security agency to Atalanta
(BRUSSELS2, exclusive) The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA / EMSA) - based in Lisbon - paradoxically does not include the fight against piracy in its missions. An altogether logical omission - the agency having as its primary vocation to prevent and fight against marine pollution, in line with the logic of the "Erika" packages of the European Commission intended to strengthen maritime safety - but which seems a little outdated Today. This regulation is currently under review. The MEPs of the Transport Committee therefore took the opportunity to add two clarifications on piracy in the recitals (which normally do not have the value of an obligation in the legal sense but often weigh heavily at the political level). For lack of having obtained a deeper modification of its missions. Vote obtained on October 11 and which must still be confirmed in plenary by December normally.
Attention: the text specified in italics must still be validated by the lawyer linguistsA threat to watch out for
On the one hand, MEPs want piracy to be added to the list of threats that the agency must monitor. " The Agency should, as part of its data collection and verification tasks, gather essential information on the threats which, in particular, offshore oil and gas exploration and production facilities may represent for maritime transport or the marine environment, as well as piracy. »
Establish the link with Eunavfor
More concretely, MEPs want to strengthen the link between the agency and the European anti-piracy mission Eunavfor Atalanta: “ In order to combat the increased risk of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and in the western Indian Ocean, it is important for the Agency to communicate to Eunavfor's Atalanta operation the precise position of ships flying the flag of the EU who cross in this area known to be at very high risk. » (*)
It should be noted that until now, not all the Member States have given their consent to the communication of this data. This regulation should oblige them to do so, in order to strengthen the role of the Agency in the fight against piracy, underline the MEP author of this amendment, the Belgian socialist Saïd El Khadraoui.
Comment: it's about time!
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