Brussels, 10/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission adopted its proposals for the creation of a "single sky". The issue was frozen in March this year because of a dispute between Spain and the United Kingdom over Gibraltar. It was brought out of deadlock after the United Kingdom had agreed that the Gibraltar airport should be excluded from the scope of the measures proposed. This first package comprises a framework regulation fixing the institutional rules for achievement of a single European sky by 31 December 2004, and three specific proposals of regulation, along the lines defined by the High Level Group on the Single European Sky, composed of civilian and military representatives of the Member States.
The framework regulation provides for: 1) the creation of a single sky committee, composed of Member State representatives who will develop and adopt new regulations on civilian air navigation; 2) the use of common defence policy mechanisms for defining and implementing the military measures coming under intergovernmental competences; 3) the creation of an advisory group composed of experts from the European organisations concerned by civilian air navigation; 4) the establishment of social dialogue in the air traffic control sector, in order to allow the rapid adoption of measures allowing for improved training and numbers of air traffic controllers; 5) the creation of a cooperation framework between the Commission and the pan-European air traffic control body, Eurocontrol. The Commission is to continue in its effort to rekindle EU accession to Eurocontrol, blocked by the Gibraltar issue. It should then involve Eurocontrol in the development and application of Community legislation.
Specific regulations on: 1) rules on charges and transparency in the air navigation services sector. The "accessories" services like the communication, navigation and surveillance services, would be open to competition; 2) the creation of an "upper single airspace" and coordination between civilian and military users of the airspace; 3) procedures for the adoption and implementation of the rules and standards for air traffic management.