Brussels, 06/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - After publishing partial guidelines on the regulation to extend the powers of the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) to airports, air traffic control and air navigation (see EUROPE 9802), the Council is continuing its informal dialogue with the European Parliament and the European Commission in order to reach agreement on the first part of the regulation. The main problem is the scope of application of the regulation, whereby EASA would be able to harmonise safety rules in EU airports.
Submitted in June 2008 as part of the Single Sky package (see EUROPE 9690), the regulation would cover all commercial airports in the EU, whether public or private, and would compromise Instrument Flight Rules to allow the automated (rather than visual) monitoring of aircraft for airports with landing strips at least 800 metres long.
Following compromise proposals prepared by the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU, the parties have reached agreement on all aspects apart from the length of landing strips. France wants the scope of application of the regulation to be restricted to airports with a landing strip of at least 1,200 metres, which would take account of the specific nature of the most vulnerable airports. France argues that this would mean that EU law would not apply to 160 of the French airports covered by the initial draft (which applies to 800 European airports). Germany, Austria and Denmark also have reservations. They recommend replacing the landing strip length criterion with a traffic density criterion. Denmark has even requested that its three airports, which meet the criteria but which cater for fewer than 3000 passengers a year, be excluded from the rules because the new legislation would be too heavy a burden. The Commission says it is prepared to agree to Denmark's request. The Commission has, however, echoed the European Parliament in rejecting France's request because, as some would see it, it demonstrates a lack of political will on the part of the French authorities to push the rules through.
The three EU institutions are continuing their mutual talks to reach agreement on the Single Sky II agreement to update air traffic control (see EUROPE 9800). The Council and EP have to reach agreement on the three technical aspects of the regulation - appointing and deciding on the work of the coordinators of the functional airspace blocks, the transition period for introducing the performance system and the funding procedures for joint projects. The next three-way meeting is scheduled for 10 February 2009 and the European Parliament will vote on the two proposals on 26 March 2009. (A.By/transl.fl)