Brussels, 13/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Single European Sky (SES) will veery probably be keenly debated in Vilnius on Monday 16 September when European transport ministers convene to discuss the matter. On the agenda is the draft update of current measures, SES 2+, unveiled by the European Commission in the spring, and which has been severely criticised by France and Germany.
On 13 September, a few days before the meeting, Lithuanian transport minister Rimantas Sinkevicius said: “It is an important occasion to engage the international aviation community and the European governments in discussing the issue of mutual interest, such as more efficient implementation of air traffic management system in European Union and beyond. Regarding the regulatory aspect of the issue, a clear distribution of functions among the responsible national authorities and EU institutions should become a priority in order to avoid overlapping of functions. In addition, there is a clear need for common understanding how Europe needs to act to enable safe and really efficient air traffic management and achieve the most important SES objectives: improved safety, increased capacity, reduced air traffic management costs and decreased negative effects on the environment”.
He will submit two questions to the ministers for discussion - firstly, the usefulness of a new Single European Sky and a new institutional framework. A close source says that France will be very “outspoken” here and may also act as the voice piece for German concerns because the German minister may have to be absent from the meeting because of the imminent general elections in his country (on 22 September). France and Germany are part of the same airspace block and are challenging both the SES 2+ and the need for a Single European Sky in the first place.
The ministers will also discuss the utility of getting industry more involved in the next SES.
For the first time, other stakeholders will be present at the meeting - Eurocontrol, European and international airline associations (AEA and IATA) and navigation services (CANSO). The close source says that the industry groups are delighted to be able to attend the meeting and are expected to argue in favour of SES 2+ and regret that member states are opposing it. (MD/transl.fl)