Brussels, 20/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The rapporteur on the European Single Sky 2+, Marian-Jean Marinescu (EPP, Romania), takes the view that, above all, the package should get functional airspace blocks (FABs) back on track. In his draft report, the amendments to which were examined by the transport committee (TRAN) on Monday 20 January, he therefore rejects the decoupling of support services from air navigation services.
The European Single Sky 2+ is designed to bring the second European Single Sky package up to the mark without revising it completely. It aims to accelerate the implementation process for the Single Sky, as delays have built up and cost a great deal in terms of time, money and fuel.
The rapporteur laid great emphasis on the nine FABs, which will be decisive in this matter. “With this report, we intend to keep up the pressure to create these FABs. We must continue to demand that the member states transpose what needs to be transposed. The Parliament must send out this signal in the clearest possible way”, he stressed. The other key point in his report is the rejection of the European Commission's proposal to separate air navigation services from support services, such as communication, navigation and surveillance services and meteorological and aeronautical information services. This is an approach which has won a broad consensus within the TRAN committee. The Green MEP Eva Lichtenberger (Austria) described this decoupling as an “ideological debate” with no link to reality. She would prefer to avoid “artificial separations”. The rapporteur therefore stressed a preferential regime for support services. Air navigation service providers will therefore have to take account of other service providers in order to provide these services in particular, but will not be obliged to separate them. The question of the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a problem for certain British (Jacqueline Foster, ECR) and Spanish (Luis de Grandes Pascual, EPP) MEPs. They noted their differences of opinion on this subject; whichis also a blocking point within the Council. (MD/transl.fl)