Brussels, 09/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the international conference on air transport safety and the next International Civil Aviation Association (ICAO) summit at the end of September 2010, the European Commission is considering bringing forward a strategy “to strengthen and improve air safety in the world,” said European Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani on Thursday 9 July, following a meeting with ICAO President Roberto Kobeh González. The strategy, which might include a worldwide blacklist of airlines, as suggested by the commissioner last week (see EUROPE 9932), would ensure that existing instruments (ICAO safety audits, among other things) guarantee an adequate level of air safety, not only in Europe, but throughout the world. The Commission would prefer to have this adopted jointly with the international organisation that is ICAO.
“The European Commission is fully convinced of the need to develop international strategies” and wants to work with international agencies to improve air safety standards, the Commissioner said. He went on to say that member states had to play a “constructive role” in this. On Thursday evening Tajani was due to travel to Spain for talks with the Spanish transport minister and to ask him to deliver this message to the team that is preparing the conference. Concrete proposals will be brought forward at the next ICOA summit in Montreal at the end of September 2010, according to Tajani. He said, too, that he was going to propose that Europe become involved in safety in Africa, for example by helping with the training of pilots and technicians. The plan will be discussed next week with Libyan authorities. The conference on trans-European transport networks in Naples might also provide a platform for discussion of the proposed cooperation. González did not reject these ideas, but he preferred not to say much on drafting binding worldwide safety standards and on the advantages of drawing up a blacklist of airlines. “Such a list is not a full solution. Lists may discourage passengers,” he said. What was needed, he said, was a “programme” that will resolve the issue, and “transparency”. “We have already improved transparency” (the results of all safety audits are published on the ICAO web site), but “states remain sovereign”, he said (ICAO audits are not binding and the European Commission is not a member of ICAO). He stated, however, that air safety remained a “joint concern” for him and the Commission. (A.By./transl.rt)