Brussels, 26/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Parliament's Transport Committee approved without amendment the Council's common position on the draft directive introducing an EU licence for air traffic controllers. Adopting the report by Christine Veyrac (EPP-ED, France), the Transport Committee backed the measures to lift obstacles to the free circulation of air traffic controllers in the EU. On the language issue, the MEPs backed the Council's position that Level 4 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) language skills ladder would be required in the use and understanding of English; and Member States would have the option of demanding the same level of knowledge of their national language if they believe that this is required for safety reasons and they would also be able to demand a higher level of language skill (Level 5 of the ICAO ladder), also for safety reasons. The draft directive will now be debated in plenary in February.