The Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union have been invited to approve the EU Council’s negotiating mandate on the implementation of the ‘Single European Sky’ (see EUROPE 12743/2) on Wednesday 17 November. The next interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogue’) will take place on 22 November.
A number of political issues remain unresolved, and the positions of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU remain, according to the latter, “far apart”.
The issue of national responsibility and sovereignty is expected to be at the centre of the discussions. On this point, the Member States are calling for more room for manoeuvre, while the Parliament is calling for a rationalisation of the airspace management system and a reduction in fragmentation.
In addition, the question of the network manager, Eurocontrol, is also expected to be high on the agenda.
According to the European Parliament, the current Network Manager cannot be considered as an independent body and insists that requirements for functional and hierarchical separation be introduced between Eurocontrol and other stakeholders.
Rejected by the Parliament, the EU Council’s position is based on the fact that Eurocontrol is already part of the current legislation and that additional tasks could also be assigned to it so that it can better contribute to the sustainable and efficient use of airspace.
Since the EU Council Presidency considers that it “cannot go beyond its latest compromise texts”, the arbitration is already looking complex.
In addition to the role - and definition of tasks - of the network manager, the Parliament also believes that the network manager should be able to adopt binding measures for the operational players, in particular with regard to the network operation plan (NOP).
The Member States reject the term ‘binding’, considering the NOP to be an evolving plan that is regularly updated.
In addition, Parliament would like to see the introduction of airspace management performance plans. These could be established by a new performance review body operating under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
For its part, the EU Council wishes to see this responsibility transferred to the Member States. In view of the difficulty of finding a balance on this aspect, “the technical level has been mandated to start considering options to bridge the gap between the positions of the two institutions”, explains the EU Council Presidency.
Finally, the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council also states that the issue of stakeholder involvement in strategic investment decisions remains “unresolved”, as does the issue of charging for access to general air traffic data (see EUROPE 12565/1).
See the document: https://bit.ly/30w1wD6 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)