The Danish Presidency of the Council and the European Parliament's negotiating team agreed on giving more and powers to the European Agency for Maritime Safety (EMSA) to step up cooperation against piracy, prevent maritime pollution, improve training for seafarers and help establish an EU maritime space without barriers. The informal deal needs to be formally approved by the Council and the Parliament.

The deal reached by the Danish Presidency and Parliament's negotiators, once formally approved, would enable the European Agency for Maritime Safety (EMSA) to extend its preventive work and make broader use of its resources to help Member States to prevent and tackle maritime pollution, protect ships against piracy and create the future European maritime space without barriers, by reducing bureaucracy.

The compromise reached mentions EMSA's possible future role in preventing pollution from offshore oil and gas installations once new EU rules on offshore platform safety - currently under negotiation, have been approved. According to MEPs, these pollution prevention rules would provide the much-needed legal basis to examine further implementing steps involving EMSA. Parliament favours entrusting EMSA with the related prevention and inspection tasks, rather than setting up a new agency.

The leader of Parliament's negotiating team, Knut Fleckenstein MEP, stressed that EMSA will not replace or duplicate Member States' work, it will bring added value. EMSA was set up in 2003, with headquarters in Lisbon. The agency's annual budget arises to €54,33 million in 2010.