Plan to create powerful air safety agency

Date: 21/09/00

By Renée Cordes

THE European Commission will next week call for the creation of a powerful EU-wide air safety agency.

The new body would take over many of the powers currently in the hands of member states and seek to harmonise safety standards throughout the 15-member bloc.

Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio was originally due to come forward with her proposal before the summer break, but delayed a decision due to legal questions over the planned agency's precise remit.

Officials say the EU executive has now decided to press ahead with its original plan to set up a supranational body with real teeth, comparable to the US Federal Aviation Administration. "There are still some minor legal concerns, but I think we will have an agreement very soon," said a spokesman for De Palacio.

Under her plan, it would be the agency's job to certify aircraft and implement other measures now enforced by member states. Airlines currently have to get their planes approved in all EU countries in which they take-off and land, a requirement which often entails going through a lengthy bureaucratic process.

De Palacio has repeatedly argued that a Union-wide safety agency is needed as part of a broader strategy to ensure uniform standards as Europe's skies become increasingly congested and travellers face ever-longer flight delays.

Transport safety campaigners say the move is long overdue. "We support the establishment of a single European air safety authority that is within the EU's control so that treaty obligations for safety can be met," said a spokesman for the European Transport Safety Authority.

De Palacio's proposals are, however, sure to run into strong opposition from member states opposed to handing over responsibility in this area to the Union.

At the end September 2000, the European Commission will call for the creation of a powerful EU-wide air safety agency. The new body would take over many of the powers currently in the hands of member states and seek to harmonise safety standards throughout the 15-member bloc.