Brussels, 21/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - The dispute between the United Kingdom and Spain over Gibraltar continues to block European Union accession to the air traffic safety organisation in Europe, Eurocontrol, the cornerstone of Commission strategy for combating the problem of air traffic delays in Europe. The signing of the accession protocol, which was to take place on 28 January in Brussels, on the fringe of the meeting of ministers of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), had to be deferred until at least April, as no agreement has been reached between the United Kingdom and Spain.
Paradoxically, it was Spain that insisted during the Transport Council of June 1999 for an end to be rapidly put to the chaos in European skies, after the Madrid airport had recorded delays affecting over 43% of flights. In the wake of this, Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio presented a Communication last December on the "creation of a single European sky", mainly insisting on an urgent measure: that of strengthening Eurocontrol's decision-making capacity through the accession of the Community as such.
The dispute between London and Madrid concerns the implementation of European legislation on the Gibraltar airport: Spain calls for suspension of Community law in this airport, established on its territory, until joint operation by the United Kingdom and Spain. It invokes an agreement for joint operation of the airport, concluded in 1987 between Spain and the United Kingdom in the context of air liberalisation, but refused by Gibraltar. For one Spanish diplomat, "Gibraltar is a colony and the United Kingdom must apply the law there". The United Kingdom maintains, for its part, that this airport comes under the administration of Gibraltar, and that, in any case, the bilateral row should not have any influence over adoption of European legislation.
The conflict blocks adoption of several legislative texts on air transport in Europe, as, for example, the regulation on compensation for passengers in the event of overbooking. Last February, the draft directive on safety controls in third country aircraft landing in European airports had become obsolete, as there was still no solution over Gibraltar. "Spain will continue to raise the problem of Gibraltar, each time that this airport is concerned", one Spanish diplomat hammered home.