Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-17-Speech-2-066"
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"en.20060117.6.2-066"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I sincerely wish to thank Mr El Khadraoui and Mr Zīle for their work and for the spirit of cooperation that has governed our work. I also wish to thank the members of the Committee on Transport and Tourism for having put a great deal of effort into this important debate. I would point out, Mr President, that this debate is timely, given that I have to prepare new aviation agreements during 2006. It was very helpful to have Parliament enlighten me on the Community’s external policy in the field of air transport. These two reports genuinely constitute an important contribution to the interinstitutional dialogue on Community action in this field.
In any event, Mr President, I should very much like to thank the European Parliament for its contribution to the success of these important negotiations, which will enable the European Union to increase the opportunities for its air transport industry, which I believe is an industry that deserves credit for creating jobs in Europe and for showing us a particularly dynamic side to Europe and a Europe in which the development of transport goes hand in hand with a high level of security and with high-quality transport. I should once again like to thank Mr El Khadraoui and Mr Zīle, and I should also like to thank your committee.
Throughout the past 20 years, the Community has seen its responsibilities increase in the aviation sector. The Member States have brought down the barriers of their national markets in order to have only one market now – the Community market – which is henceforth based on a full set of common rules, including in fields such as security, safety or air traffic management. This Community governed by the rule of law is the foundation of a market that has become increasingly important as the years have gone by. There are now 600 million passengers and 60 million tonnes of goods transported each year.
To go from a bilateral system between states to one of agreements negotiated at Community level provides new and significant prospects, thanks to the opportunities afforded by the large European market and to the opportunities for developing cooperation in the Community. This transition from a bilateral system to a Community system also constitutes a legal requirement in terms of ensuring that our regulatory acquis is recognised and respected in the aviation sector.
Mr El Khadraoui’s report addresses a series of key problems for our policy. Firstly, the importance of taking steps to align the bilateral agreements, which, ever since the Court judgments, have been the subject of legal uncertainty. Mr El Khadraoui, we are engaged in this task alongside the Member States in a spirit of close cooperation and using all the levers provided by the EU’s external policy.
Secondly, you highlighted the need – and I thank you for doing so – always to respect the following dual objective: the opening up of markets and regulatory convergence. This priority accorded to regulatory convergence enables us to develop our international activities and the international activities of our industry in an environment of healthy and fair competition. We must simultaneously pursue both of these objectives. The efficiency and credibility of the Community in the negotiations depends on our doing so.
Finally, this regulatory cooperation has to rely as far as possible on technical cooperation in order to guarantee a high level of convergence in such vital areas as security and safety, not forgetting, of course, in the problematic environmental and social areas that form part of our European social model.
With Parliament’s support, we are going to continue to call for new negotiating mandates. The integration of Ukraine into the European area, an agreement with Australia and Chile and the start of negotiations with China and India will be the priorities for 2006.
China and Russia are the subjects of two communications by the Commission, on which Mr Zīle’s report is based. I will begin with Russia and with the issue of Siberian overflights. I should like to thank you for your support on this issue and for your very legitimate demands. We are determined to put a stop to these charges, which clearly contravene all international rules, and, before contemplating a comprehensive aviation agreement with Russia, we need to resolve this specific issue by also taking into account Russia’s willingness to join the WTO. I have been increasing the tempo of the negotiations with the Russian Government over the past few months. The issue was brought up during the EU-Russia Summit in October following a letter sent by Mr Barroso to Mr Putin. I have had two meetings with the Russian Transport Minister, Mr Igor Levitin, during which I laid a great deal of emphasis on the urgent need for a solution. We are resolute in our position: we are calling on the Russian Government to establish a transparent and non-discriminatory system and gradually to reduce the charges before they stop altogether in 2013, which was the date agreed in 2004 between the Russian Government and the Commission. Finally, we are calling for the restrictions on the number of Siberian overflights by European airlines to be abolished. Through lack of sufficient reactions on the part of the Russian Government at this stage, we need to bring up this issue at all levels. A solution needs to be found to this issue before Russia enters the WTO.
As regards the booming Chinese market, there are obvious advantages to a Community approach, as Mr Zīle demonstrated. The prospect of an agreement with China is crucial for European operators in the long term. Yet, our approach with regard to China needs to be gradual and methodical in order to strengthen our cooperation, while developing a level of regulatory convergence that is acceptable to our industry. The first phase of negotiations must unquestionably be devoted to improving the regulatory framework and the conditions relating to commercial operation. Our airlines are suffering from unjustifiable restrictions that must be lifted immediately. These aspects related to ‘doing business’ will be our priority."@en1
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