The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) unanimously adopted on Monday a
recommendation encouraging the states bordering the Black Sea - Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine - to take steps to prevent damage to the Black Sea environment and strengthen co-operation at both national and regional levels, PACE said on its website.

According to PACE, the Council of Europe, of which all the riparian countries are members, is well placed to facilitate such co-operation, BTA reported.

In this connection, it welcomes the initiative of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe to set up a Black Sea Euroregion in September 2008, along the lines of the Adriatic Sea Euroregion, to foster sustainable development in the region.

In his report, the rapporteur of the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs, Laurentiu Mironescu (Romania, EPP/CD), draws an alarming picture of the environmental situation in the Black Sea, where the industrialisation of coastal towns, the activities of ports and the dumping of toxic and radioactive waste have created unprecedented levels of pollution.