Brussels, 28/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - Within the framework of the Transport Council debate on the theme "air transport and the environment", Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium insisted, on Tuesday, on the need for tax measures that reduce the environmental impact of air transport, at European level failing international measures. Other ministers, however, like the Spanish and the Irish ministers, noted that such a tax must be adopted at international level as a matter of priority. Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio restated that a tax at European level would run counter to the competitive nature of European airline companies and must therefore be treated in the context of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. In its communication on air transport and the environment, presented end 1999, the Commission had rejected the idea of a European tax on aviation fuel (see EUROPE of 2 December 1999, p.7). The question was also discussed within the last Ecofin Council and Luxembourg Minister Grethen regretted the lack of coordination between the Ecofin Council and the Transport Council.
Ministers also discussed how to reduce noise pollution from aviation (leaving the discussion on the specific point of banning aircraft fitted with hushkits for the working lunch). After her stinging experience concerning the ban on night flights at the Brussels/Zaventem airport, Belgian Minister Isabelle Durant insisted on the importance of taking the concerns of those living near airports into account, but also on the institutional difficulties that exist for adopting national or regional measures. Most ministers maintained that measures concerning the airport environment come essentially under the responsibility of Member States, or of regional authorities.
At the close of debates on the "conclusions", which define three priority areas of action for integrating air transport into sustainable development policy defined during the international conference in Kyoto in 1997, the ministers adopted: i) the development and rapid implementation of more stringent international norms on noise emissions as well as an appropriate transitional regime for eliminating the noisiest aircraft. Ministers recognise in this respect the need to prepare a European strategy for the 33rd ICAO assembly in September 2001; ii) the drafting of proposals for the introduction of economic incentive measures aimed to reduce the impact on the environment, mainly of gaseous emissions from the different air transport activities, but taking into account competition risks and the necessity of signing freely agreed agreements with the aeronautics industry; iii) continued development "in conformity with the principle of subsidiarity taking into account best practices, and a general Community framework of guidelines for the development of environmentally friendly airports".