By Henrietta Billings - 5th December 2003
Europe's transport ministers are preparing for heated discussions over proposals for the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), during Friday's council meeting in Brussels.
Under the proposals, EMSA's safety role and responsibilities would be extended to cover maritime security - which includes measures to inspect ships for terrorist weapons.
And the agency would be given powers to combat marine pollution by helping countries clean up major oil spills.
However France and the United Kingdom are opposed to any extension of the agency's powers to include security - which they think does not come under the Commission's remit.
Also Germany is concerned about the financial implications of using the agency to hire out large boats in rough seas to tackle maritime pollution.
If national governments can agree to scale back the remit of the agency giving it more advisory and technical duties, an agreement on a general approach is possible.
The regulation, which comes under the scrutiny of the European Parliament in co-decision procedure, will be debated in February 2004.
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