Brussels, 26/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 24 March, the European Commission presented to the EU Council of Ministers a proposal for a decision on a stance to be adopted within the European Economic Area (EEA) joint committee. This would relate to participation by EFTA countries (European Free Trade Association), members of the EEA, in work by the SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) joint undertaking, which aims to set up a new generation European system for air traffic management.
In its proposal, the Commission recommends that the contracting parties, namely the EU and EFTA nations, should encourage the establishment of appropriate cooperation between the organisations, institutions and other relevant bodies on their respective territory, in order to promote participation by the contracting parties of the EFTA states, under the same conditions as those applied to EU member states, in the SESAR project, and especially in activities of the joint SESAR undertaking, in line with the basic regulation governing the latter (EC Regulation No219/2007). The proposal also provides for EFTA states to fully take part, but not with voting rights, in the European Single Sky committee that assists the European Commission in the management, development and implementation of the SESAR joint venture.
The Commission will present this proposal for a decision to the joint committee “as soon as possible”. (O.L./transl.jl)