On Friday 10 June, the French Presidency of the Council of the EU submitted to the Member States a concept paper on the issue of the governance of the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in its role as the performance review body for the ‘Single European Sky’ (see EUROPE 12845/10).
In detail, the French Presidency of the EU Council has two options on the table. The first would be to keep the national safety agencies of the 27 Member States involved in the Regulatory Board.
The second option would be based on a division of the 27 agencies. In the first option, 15 agencies would be part of the EASA Regulatory Board and the remaining 12 would be active in the Appeals Board. An agency could only be present in one of the two entities.
In addition, the document also discusses the procedure for approving performance plans and local targets. At present, the Commission can, in a first evaluation round, ask a Member State to reconsider if it considers that the objectives are not compatible with those of the EU. It may then, in a second round, decide that the Member States concerned should take corrective action if the measures envisaged or implemented are still not adequate.
In this respect, the text also suggests that Member States could consider transferring the role of the Commission - currently supported by the EASA’s performance review body - to a new performance review body, provided that Member States and their national agencies are “sufficiently involved in the process of evaluating and approving the performance plans and targets”.
See the document: https://aeur.eu/f/23s (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)