On Thursday 3 June, the Member States of the European Union adopted their position (‘general approach’) on the reform of the Single European Sky (see EUROPE 12731/11).
This is expected to lead to an improved system of air navigation services and European airspace management to meet the capacity needs of European airspace and to optimise cost efficiency while respecting environmental objectives.
“It is crucial that the reforms be based on a thorough analysis and that they do not increase costs for airlines, air navigation service providers, or any other stakeholder”, says Portuguese Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos.
However, the position adopted by the ministers, differing on a number of points from the Commission’s approach, is not unanimous. “The Commission regrets that the Council seems to be turning its back on the objectives. We don’t know how this compromise will really tackle the big challenges”, says Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean.
Parliament's rapporteur on the dossier, Marian Marinescu (EPP, Romania), deplores the Council's position. He says it “shows once again that Member States are very good at signing declarations in favour of the Single European Sky, but very weak in implementing it. They prefer the national approach to the European one”.
Specifically, the EU Council advocates an independent supervisory authority for air navigation service providers. In addition, they will only need one certificate—covering the safety and economic aspects necessary to operate within the EU—instead of the two initially proposed by the Commission.
On the environmental side, the EU Council wants to give Member States the option to implement variable charges to encourage efficient provision of flights and to improve environmental performance.
Finally, in addition to assigning additional clearly defined tasks to Eurocontrol to better contribute to the sustainable and efficient use of airspace, the EU Council is of the opinion—contrary to the Commission—that no new structure for assessing the performance of air navigation service providers should be created within the framework of EASA, in order to avoid additional administrative costs for users.
See the general approach of the EU Council: https://bit.ly/3fKQ9Mw (Thomas Mangin)