Brussels, 19/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - The first meeting of the Conciliation Committee on the regulation relating to the establishment of common rules in the field of civil aviation security ended in failure, on Thursday, because of the disagreement between the delegations of the European Parliament and Council over the question of cofunding security measures proposed by the regulation. Whereas the parliamentary delegation, headed by rapporteur Jacqueline Foster (EPP-ED, UK) and the Chair of the Transport Committee, Luciano Caferi (ELDR, Italy), wanted a concrete and binding commitment from the Council on the breakdown for financing (to put it clearly, that the Council should agree to pay part of the costs), the Council, under Transport Council President Flemming Hansen, refused to commit itself saying that it is up to each Member State to organise financing according to its own arrangements. Gilles Gantelet, spokesperson for Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, declared that the Commission will not take a stance on a democratic process - conciliation is under way and so it is up to the Parliament and Council to make the issue move forward. He added that, nonetheless, it is hoped the lack of consensus will only be temporary and that it will be possible to reach agreement very soon, as the proposal is of vital importance for Europe. The parties to conciliation have six weeks in which to reach an agreement, with a possible two-week prolongation.
Following the attacks of September 11 2001, the European Commission had presented in October 2001 a draft regulation making it compulsory within the EU to have security measures defined by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), such as the creation of a system of unannounced spot checks, more stringent controls on passengers, luggage and staff, or the obligation for Member States to set in place national security programmes and common equipment norms. In this proposal, the Commission did not evoke the question of financing. In first and second reading, the European Parliament had taken a stance for sharing costs between the Member States, representatives of the air sector (airline companies, airports) and passengers (see EUROPE of 4 December 2001 and 16 May, 2002). The aim is to put an end to the situation that currently prevails in the EU, in which some Member States finance the cost of security measures and others do not. From the outset, the Council expressed reticence about this idea of cofinancing, and conciliation procedure was therefore put under way after an informal meeting on the question failed in May this year (see EUROPE of 14 May, 2002). Although other questions were settled on Thursday, as, for example, spot checks at airports, there was no agreement on this point of financing, which could put the whole regulation in danger, commented sources familiar with the dossier.