Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-02-Speech-3-250"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030702.7.3-250"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I firstly wish to thank the two rapporteurs, Mr Fava and Mrs Sanders-ten Holte, for the work they have done over all this time. I would also like to thank them for their particular dedication to an issue which is very complex from a technical and institutional point of view. I believe – and I say this as a preface to the issues I am going to explain later – that, on certain aspects, the honourable Members may possibly have wanted more and, in particular, much clearer definitions, but the consideration that I wish to communicate to you is that, in this particular case, we are opening up totally new fields.
I thank you for your support, and in particular the work of the two rapporteurs, and I hope that in the conciliation stage we can rapidly achieve a positive result which allows us to create the famous Single European Sky before the end of 2004.
In the air sector we are entering into fields which so far had been kept completely outside of any type of regulation or agreement at European Union level. I would therefore like to thank the two rapporteurs and all the Members, who I know have participated very actively throughout the discussions in committee, and to remind them of something that we all know: until 2000 this sector has developed systematically, in the intergovernmental field, by means of Eurocontrol or the International Civil Aviation Authority. As Mrs Sanders-ten Holte said a moment ago, however, we all know that the demands of the citizens go further, that they are asking us to resolve urgent problems and there is a possibility of significantly improving the capacity and safety of our airspace and the efficiency of its management, if we are capable, in this respect as well, of introducing an integration at European level. The objective is therefore to make the organisation and the management of the air space coherent with mobility in the skies, to create a single sky before the end of 2004. And the honourable Members know that this is one of the emblematic initiatives of this Prodi Commission.
I would also like to say that, in the meantime, events have taken place, which certain Members have referred to, such as the crisis in the aviation sector relating to certain factors, 11 September, the war in Iraq, the Uberlingen accident, which have undoubtedly affected our work, but that, in no case have they undermined either the importance of the initiative or the urgency of implementing it. I would like to point out that, regrettably, it does not appear that your reactions to the Council’s common position are going to allow an agreement to be reached at second reading. The questions the honourable Members are asking appear to me to be legitimate and they deserve to be discussed in Council, but we must be aware, when dealing with this initiative, that – and I insist – we are entering new territory for the first time, and it involves several delicate aspects, and we must therefore make progress gradually and the work we are doing is very delicate, that the Council has to accept this step forward and that we must be pragmatic and realistic, and achieve operative texts which promote the immediate achievement of concrete results.
I am aware that you believe that the final proposal in the Council's common position is not sufficient and that you are calling for greater action at Community level. I would like to say to the honourable Members that of course I share your concern, but that there are legal institutional obstacles which prevent us from accepting some of the amendments you have presented, such as, for example, in the case of the report by Mr Fava, Amendments Nos 1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 and, in the case of the report by Mrs Sanders-ten Holte, Amendments Nos 13, 16, 25, 29 and 33. With regard to the other amendments, either in principle, in part or with a modification to the wording, we will be able to incorporate them, when the time comes, partially, if not in their entirety.
I would like to point out that we still oppose certain amendments which could affect or prejudice the institutional operative reality. The amendments which I have said are not acceptable include, specifically, Amendment No 14, on the consultation of the interested parties within Eurocontrol, as well as the amendments in the report by Mrs Sanders-ten Holte, Nos 13, 16, 25 and 29, the second part of Amendment No 15 and Amendment No 33, which has become obsolete as a result of technological progress.
I will raise two issues which will take centre stage in the coming discussions between the institutions within the framework of the conciliation and which the honourable Members have referred to: civil/military cooperation and the creation of functional blocks, the first of which is taken up in both reports and the second in Amendment No 26 by Mrs Sanders-ten Holte.
The civil/military issue is a key element for the success of the single sky, as the honourable Members rightly say, but you must also remember what the competences are at Community level, and this is the restriction we are faced with in relation to the whole of this issue. The discussions in the Council have demonstrated that balancing the needs of the transport policy and the demands of defence policy require coordination mechanisms which go beyond the possibilities offered in the first pillar. In order to support the creation of the single sky, despite this obstacle, the States of the Union have committed themselves, in a declaration, to developing military cooperation as a complement to the initiative in the context of the first pillar. I believe we must take advantage of this opportunity and proceed pragmatically in this field. Amendment No 29 of the report by Mrs Sanders-ten Holte establishes that transport policy has primacy in the use of the single sky, and this does not sufficiently reflect the legitimate needs and concerns of the Member States from the point of view of defence.
With regard to the second aspect, the functional blocks, Amendment No 26 of the report by Mrs Sanders-ten Holte, the Commission shares Parliament's point of view, but believes that an acceptable solution would be to strengthen the role of the Commission in combination with the ‘single sky committee’ and with the technical support of Eurocontrol, with a view to coherently assessing all of these blocks, maintaining the Member States’ right to initiative and decision-making. The creation of these blocks affects the military aspects, which I referred to in the first part of my speech. We therefore accept Amendment No 26 of the report by Mrs Sanders-ten Holte in principle, but we will have to change the wording.
In conclusion, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would remind you that the proposals we are discussing today are the result of one year’s work by a high-level group, made up of civilian and military representatives from the Member States of the Union, and of a social group consisting of the various agents in the civil aviation sector and also with participation at all levels of this field. In September 2002 you issued your opinion at first reading and at that time I thanked you for your support and the effort you dedicated to this initiative. We agree in many respects, but I would insist that what we need is a realistic position which allows us to move forward."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples