The lack of any mention of the Single Sky initiative in the speech by Henrik Hololei, the director-general of the European Commission's DG Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), during an exchange of views with MEPs from the transport and tourism committee (TRAN) at the European Parliament, did not go unnoticed. This exchange of views took place on Tuesday 11 October and focused on the progress made in European and international level travel policy.
A question relating to this failure to mention the Single Sky was posed by Wim van de Camp MEP (EPP, Netherlands), who is the coordinator for this issue and who expressed surprise that the director-general had not made any mention of the subject. The fact that no mention was made of it is even more remarkable because it is an important point in the Aviation Strategy presented last year (see EUROPE 11448) and the Commission appeared confident about future progress in this connection (see EUROPE 11534). Hololei acknowledged this absence and explained that it was because the dossier was still blocked at the Council level. He added that the Commission was doing everything possible to put pressure on member states to get certain elements in the Single Sky up and running.
The stumbling block is still the same: opposition between Spain and the United Kingdom on the question of Gibraltar. Moreover, two significant events have further complicated negotiations: the British referendum in favour of Brexit (see EUROPE 11580) and the inability of Spain to select a government since December 2015 (see EUROPE 11581).
Complaints and questions were not in short supply from MEPs. They were particularly concerned by the delays incurred in certain dossiers, such as the road package (see EUROPE 11617) and revision of Regulation 836/2004 on protection against subsidies and unfair pricing practices in the aviation sector amongst some non-EU countries. Both these issues were initially planned for the end of the year but Hololei acknowledged that they had both been postponed until next year. The initiative for the road package should be introduced by spring 2017 and the revision of the regulation will be presented at the very beginning of next year, he said.
MEPs also regretted the fact that the European Commission is not keeping the TRAN committee up to speed with the state of negotiations regarding comprehensive agreements with third countries, particularly those from the Gulf, despite the fact that the Council has already had an update. On this point, the director-general indicated that his staff would be producing a summary on the content of the negotiations that took place with Qatar in September (see EUROPE 11628). The next round of negotiations is planned for January 2017 . Hololei also said that negotiations would soon be beginning with countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on 26-28 October and with Turkey on 9-11 November. No date has as yet been set for negotiations with the United Arab Emirates.
2017 will focus on the maritime sector and, in this connection, the Commission is planning on a series of initiatives related to the recent maritime strategy mid-term review (see EUROPE 11640). A source close to the dossier told EUROPE that "this will therefore be the year of the road and maritime sectors in the end”. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)