Brussels, 09/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - The MEP Peter Liese (EPP, Germany), rapporteur at the European Parliament on the proposal to "stop the clock" on the ETS aviation for flights operated by third countries to or from EU airports, supports the proposal submitted by the European Commission to pour oil on troubled waters pending an agreement at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on reducing emissions from the aviation sector (see EUROPE 10729). The draft report he produced expresses this support, given the significant progress made by the governing board of ICAO in November, but calls for a number of clarifications.
"There is reason to believe that the question will be successfully addressed in the general assembly in September 2013. That is why we should do everything we can to make a global solution possible. Unfortunately, those third countries opposing the EU ETS have only been united in what they do not want. They have now the opportunity and the responsibility to explain what they actually want. The most important thing is that we make unambiguously clear that the situation where only internal European flights are covered by our legislation will not continue for more than one year", states Liese. In other words, "if ICAO does not find a solution, the legislation will be implemented as foreseen from 1 January 2014". The rapporteur also wants the EU to clarify what it expects from the general assembly of ICAO in September, in order to be in a position to judge whether or not the result is satisfactory.
In November, the ICAO council ruled that it was technically possible to bring in market-based measures to reduce CO2 emissions in the aviation sector. A high-level group, made up of 16 members, three of them European, will be set up to prepare recommendations for the ICAO general assembly of 2013 (see EUROPE 10756). (AN/transl.fl)