Brussels, 19/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - During a debate organised by the European Parliament on Tuesday 18 May, Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said that the European Commission was continuing to work to bring into effect the conclusions of the extraordinary Transport Council which met on 4 May to discuss the consequences of the disruption to air traffic as a result of the volcanic eruption in Iceland (see EUROPE 10132). He announced that a crisis coordination unit was to be set up (the decision on setting this unit up was taken on 11 May and final arrangements were adopted over the weekend), that there was to be a task force to seek technological solutions for this type of crisis and that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had been given a mandate to establish binding standards on tolerance levels for volcanic ash. In the United States, the model is “simple: it is the pilot who decides whether or not to fly around a cloud,” Kallas said, stating that the European strategy sought “a response that allowed the risk to be assessed”. When asked by MEPs, the Commissioner said that, for the moment, there had been no specific requests for aid to help meet the financial consequences of the crisis and that the Commission was keeping a close eye on each request for state aid. He also stressed that the Council had been very helpful with regard to the Single Sky. In other circumstances, “a good number of decisions” would have taken longer, he said. (A.By./transl.rt)