Luxembourg, 11/06/2009 (Agence Europe) -On Thursday 11 June, the "Transport" Council took note of progress report on work on the draft regulation on the management structures of the European radio-navigation programs (EGNOS, Galileo) modifying the objective, name and missions of the European GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Supervisory Authority, further to the dissolution of the public-private partnership set in place to launch and operate the system (EUROPE 9424). According to the Czech Transport Minister, Gustav Slamecka, who chaired the Council, the Member States took the view that this was an issue of "major importance" but that the examination of the dossier should be continued due to a number of questions which remain outstanding over the security system and the role of the European Commission, which most delegations feel is too great. The Council will return to this subject at its next meeting on 8 and 9 October.
The draft regulation, which was presented by the European commission last March, turns the Authority, originally designed to conclude a contract with the private concession-holder, into an agency with responsibility for approval activities regarding security and the operation of Galileo Security Centre and helping to market the GNSS systems. As regards security, the member states feel that more time is needed, in order, amongst other things, to ensure the coherence of roles between the various players: Commission, member states and Agency. One matter to be clarified regards the intervention powers of the Council, granted to it in a common position of 2004, in the event that the operation of the system could jeopardise the security of the EU or one of its members. The Council is also questioning the management system of the approval committee to be set in place as an approval body of the security of the system. According to the progress report, all delegations acknowledge that this body should be a permanent decision-making authority, with specifically mandated delegates, that the decisions should be taken collectively and that the body should be independent in the exercise of its functions. However, it opposes the idea that this committee would be chaired by a representative of the European Commission, as suggested in the proposed regulation, preferring that the president of the committee be appointed by the committee. The Council also opposes the provisions of the draft which provide for a greater role for the Commission in the administrative council of the Agency, by giving its representative a number of votes equal to all of the votes of the representatives of the member states. Although a number of member states are in favour of giving the Commission "more power than a single vote", the proposed regulation goes too far, the Council believes. The alternative proposals to be examined by the EU27 are more along the lines of applying a solution calculated on the basis of the model of the Community Fisheries Control Agency (where a number of representatives of the Commission have one vote each), or of giving the Commission a right of veto or a number of votes equal to 30% of the total votes of the representatives of the member states, but only on certain issues. During work in the working groups, all delegations also rejected the involvement of a representative of the European Parliament within the administrative council (whereas the draft regulation provides for a member of the Parliament to have a seat on the administrative council as an observer). (A.By./transl.fl)