Brussels, 02/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of a likely agreement on the Single European Sky 2+ (SES2+) at the Transport Council (see EUROPE 11208), the European trade unions remain strongly opposed to any liberalisation of air traffic management services.
The European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) is drawing attention to the negative social impact that liberalisation of air traffic management (ATM) support services, as proposed by the European Commission, could have. The ETF has warned about the counter-productive effect that unbundling support services, such as weather forecasting, communications and navigation from air-traffic management, would have. The ETF warned that “it has already created social tensions in many countries and there is a high risk that the ATM workers will lose confidence in the whole SES process”. The ETF also highlighted the increased level of risk to safety and the fact that the SES2+ would not deliver any improvements in terms of performance.
The trade unions are therefore calling on European ministers, who are due to reach a decision on the issue on Wednesday 3 December during the Transport Council, to demonstrate a more pragmatic and balanced approach towards the European Commission proposal on the liberalisation of services. Nonetheless, it would appear that the Council is determined to leave it up to the member states themselves whether or not support services should be opened up to competition. (MD)