Brussels, 20/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 20 December, the European Commission decided to impose air traffic restrictions on Sofia. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) identified “important shortcomings” in the administrative capacity of the Bulgarian Civil Aviation Authorities. This situation is one of long standing and has finally forced the Commission to invoke the safeguard clause in Bulgaria's Accession Treaty. In practice, with effect from 1st January 2007, Bulgaria will be an EU member, but its planes will still be considered as coming from a non-Member State, and will not enjoy the various benefits of being considered a Community carrier. This is the first time the Commission has invoked such a clause with regard to an applicant country.
Following inspections carried out in November, the EASA identified “serious shortcomings in the administrative capacity of the Bulgarian Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) in the field of safety oversight in general, and for the certification of airworthiness and maintenance of aircraft”, says a Commission press release. According to the Commission, the number of CAA staff is insufficient and their level of training is generally inadequate to perform their duties at the required level. These problems are not new, the EASA having identified them and informed the Bulgarian authorities in 2005. The Bulgarian authorities drew up an action plan to remedy the situation. In September 2006, however, seeing that it was not being properly applied, the Commission, in its report on Bulgaria's and Romania's state of preparedness for EU accession, warned Sofia that it could invoke the safeguard clause, as provided for, if substantial progress was not made before accession. It is this warning that the Commission has finally decided to put into practice.
What, in concrete terms, will change? For Bulgarian air operators flying to and from the Community, there will be no change. From 1st January 2007, their aeroplanes will continue to be viewed as planes coming from a non-Member State instead of being considered as belonging to Community operators. Authorisations and certificates delivered by Bulgarian CAA will not automatically be recognised by other EU Member States, and Bulgarian companies and operators will continue to operate within the framework of existing bilateral air agreements. In practice, this means they will not have unrestricted access to European air routes, as will be the case for Romanian operators. It will be the same for some Bulgarian air products, which not have any more mutual recognition on Community territory than at present and could be subject to further checks.
While the situation is of concern, the Commission will not, at this point, penalise Bulgarian air operators. In some countries, civil aviation authorities are not very effective and the airline companies are among the safest, an expert has pointed out. Before thinking about taking matters further and possibly banning some Bulgarian planes of companies or deciding to lift the safeguard clause, the Commission will await the results of the investigation which is presently being carried out by experts. These results will be presented to the EU air safety regulatory committee at the end of February. At the same time, the Commission has asked EASA to conduct a study on the compatibility of Antonovs - widely used in Bulgaria and in other EU Member States - with European safety standards. (dt)