EC STARTS PROCEDURE TO RECRUIT MARITIME SAFETY DIRECTOR

EC STARTS PROCEDURE TO RECRUIT MARITIME SAFETY DIRECTOR    The European Commission has launched the procedure to recruit an executive director for the new European Maritime Safety Agency.
   The Maritime Safety Agency was established by a European Parliament and Council Regulation on June 27, and is expected to start its operations in the fourth quarter.
   The executive director’s main tasks will be “to develop and achieve the agency’s strategic objectives, develop and maintain cooperation with the competent commission services and member states authorities responsible for the implementation of community legislation in the fields of maritime safety and pollution prevention from ships and manage the agency’s staff and budget,” the EC said.
   The agency is provisionally hosted within the EC’s premises in Brussels pending a decision of the European Council on the future location of its office.
   The new European Maritime Safety Agency should contribute to the enhancement of the overall maritime safety system in the European Union and reduce the risk of maritime accidents, marine pollution prevention and the loss of human lives at sea, according to the EC.
   The agency was created following the oil spill of the tanker “Erika” in 1999. The “Erika,” a 25-year-old single-hull oil tanker flying the Maltese flag and chartered by TOTAL-FINA, broke in two and polluted some 400 kilometers of French coastline.