4 Civil aviation: passenger protection
and Single European Sky
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision | Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested
|
| Document details | (a) Draft Regulation concerning denied boarding, cancellation or long delay of flights and baggage problems; (b) Draft Regulation consolidating and amending four Regulations concerning the Single European Sky
|
| Legal base | Article 100(2) TFEU; co-decision; QMV
|
| Department | Transport
|
| Document numbers | (a) (34777), 7615/13 + ADDs 1-2, COM(13) 130
(b) (35073), 11501/13 + ADDs 1-2, COM(13) 410
|
Summary and Committee's conclusions
4.1 In March 2013 the Commission presented a draft
Regulation to introduce a range of changes to airline passenger
protection legislation to reinforce enforcement policies and procedures,
improve passenger rights and re-address the financial obligations,
in some circumstances, imposed on airlines.
4.2 In June 2013 the Commission presented a draft
Regulation to recast (consolidate and amend) the four framework
Regulations underlying the Single European Sky policies.
4.3 We have been holding both these proposals under
scrutiny, one very important reason being Spain's attempts to
exclude Gibraltar from the scope of the legislation.
4.4 The Government updates us now on its position
on the Gibraltar issue and the actions it has been taking to resolve
the problem.
4.5 We are grateful to the Government for this
information and commend its robust stance. We hope to hear in
due course of success in its efforts to safeguard Gibraltar's
interests. Meanwhile the documents remain under scrutiny.
Full details of the documents:
(a) Draft Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 establishing
common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the
event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of
flights and Regulation (EC) No. 2027/97 on air carrier liability
in respect of the carriage of passengers and their baggage by
air: (34777), 7615/13 + ADDs 1-2, COM(13) 130; (b) Draft Regulation
on the implementation of the Single European Sky (recast): (35073),
11501/13 + ADDs 1-2, COM(13) 410.
Background
4.6 With a draft Regulation, document (a), the Commission
proposed, in March 2013, a range of changes to airline passenger
protection legislation to reinforce enforcement policies and procedures,
improve passenger rights and re-address the financial obligations,
in some circumstances, imposed on airlines.
4.7 During scrutiny of this proposal we learnt about
a range of issues which need to be addressed, including the question
of its applicability to Gibraltar Airport. When we last considered
the matter, in July 2014, we heard that the outgoing Greek Presidency
failed to achieve any form of agreement on the proposal and that
it had not been identified as a priority by the incoming Italian
Presidency.
4.8 We kept this document under scrutiny pending
a report of further developments.
4.9 The Single European Sky (SES) initiative was
launched in response to the growing problem in air traffic management
delays in the late 1990s. The legislative basis for the SES was
established in April 2004 with the entry into force of four high-level
Regulations, now termed "SES I". In 2009 these Regulations
were amended as part of a SES second package (SES II).
4.10 In June 2013 the Commission presented, as SES
II+, two draft Regulations, one, to amend the Regulation establishing
the European Aviation Safety Agency, which has been cleared from
scrutiny,[9] and the other,
document (b), to recast (consolidate and amend) the four SES I
Regulations.
4.11 We have considered this proposal on a number
of occasions. In November 2014 we did not clear the draft Regulation
from scrutiny, given a difficulty with Spain over Gibraltar. But
we did grant the Government a waiver, in terms of the Scrutiny
Reserve Resolution, allowing it to support a General Approach
at the December 2014 Transport Council, if a text was proposed
which unambiguously secured Gibraltar's position. In the event,
after that Council we heard that the Italian Presidency unhelpfully
purported to achieve a General Approach on the draft Regulation,
which included unacceptable references to Gibraltar.
4.12 We noted the Government's strong Minute Statement
on this disappointing development on the draft Regulation and
presumed that it would work with the incoming Latvian Presidency
to ensure that the matter was not carried forward in trilogue
negotiations until the Gibraltar issue was satisfactorily resolved.
We presumed also that, if necessary, the Government would seek
confirmation from the Court of Justice that Gibraltar's position
is secured by Article 355(3) TFEU. We asked the Government to
keep us informed of its efforts to put this proposal back on track.
Meanwhile the document remained under scrutiny.
The Minister's letter of 26 February 2015
4.13 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department for Transport (Mr Robert Goodwill) writes now to update
us on the Government's position on the Gibraltar issue and the
actions it has taken so far. He says that:
· his department has been working closely
with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on this issue;
· the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for
Europe and he all intervened personally following the December
2014 Transport Council;
· the Government continues to lobby Member
States and the EU institutions on SES II+ and other current aviation
dossiers; and
· in addition the Government is currently
making arrangements for Commissioner Bulc to come to London and
this will provide further opportunity to remind the Commission
of the importance the UK places on Gibraltar's inclusion in aviation
legislation.
4.14 The Minister continues that:
· other Member States have typically taken
the view that this issue is a bilateral question to be resolved
between the UK and Spain;
· the Government has seen some sympathy
for the UK's treatment at the Transport Council, but many Member
States are coming under increasing pressure from their respective
aviation industries to see progress on these dossiers;
· it has also heard this same concern from
the UK's own industry;
· the Government expects this to translate
in due course into increased pressure on both the UK and Spain
to achieve a resolution;
· its lobbying is therefore aimed at making
sure Member States and the EU institutions understand the background
to this issue and that it is the intransigent position taken by
Spain over the past two years which is halting progress; and
· the Government is also making it clear
that it remains open to discussing any compromise solution which
respects the UK's red lines on Gibraltar.
4.15 Turning to the position of the present, Latvian,
Presidency the Minister tells us that:
· following targeted lobbying, Latvia has
stated publicly that it will not take SES II+ to trilogue with
the European Parliament unless there is a resolution of the Gibraltar
issue;
· the Presidency is maintaining this position,
although it is coming under pressure from the Commission and the
European Parliament to start some trilogue discussions on the
text agreed in the partial General Approach and therefore not
including the text on Gibraltar;
· Latvia has also given the Government private
assurances that it will not seek to reach more than a progress
report on the airline passenger rights dossier by the June Transport
Council if Gibraltar remains unresolved;
· it has indicated furthermore that it intends
to restrict discussions in working groups to the substantive issues;
and
· the Government is supporting the Presidency
fully in this approach and encouraging others to do so and encouraging
continued resistance to any pressure to do otherwise.
4.16 The Minister also says that:
· FCO ministers and officials are in regular
contact on this issue with the Gibraltar Government which understands
the Government's position and is grateful for the robust line
taken in defending Gibraltar's inclusion;
· the Government has proposed to the Spanish
Government that aviation should be added to the agenda of items
of mutual interest to be discussed in ad hoc talks between the
UK, Spain, Gibraltar, various regional authorities within the
Campo de Gibraltar and other interested parties — this proposal
was rejected;
· the Government is absolutely clear, however,
that it will not enter into bilateral talks with Spain about Gibraltar
Airport since these would be in effect talks about sovereignty
over the Isthmus of Gibraltar;
· it has made a strong public commitment
not to enter into any process of sovereignty negotiations with
which Gibraltar is not content;
· the Government regards Spain's attempts
to use EU legislation to force bilateral talks on sovereignty
as an abuse of EU process;
· it will continue to pursue a flexible
and constructive approach to aviation dossiers whilst making it
clear that Spain cannot be allowed to use this legislation to
score political points on Gibraltar; and
· as it has previously stated, the Government
has not ruled out a legal challenge in the event that legislation
which excludes Gibraltar should be passed.
Previous Committee Reports
(34777), 7615/13 + ADDs 1-2: Thirty-ninth Report
HC 86-xxxviii (2012-13), chapter 5 (17 April 2013); Thirteenth
Report HC 83-xiii (2013-14), chapter 9 (4 September 2013); Forty-eighth
Report HC 83-xliii (2013-14), chapter 4 (7 May 2014) and Sixth
Report HC 219-vi (2014-15), chapter 2 (9 July 2014); (35073),
11501/13 + ADDs 1-2: Ninth Report HC 83-ix (2013-14), chapter
5 (10 July 2013); Fifth Report HC 219-v (2014-15), chapter 5 (2
July 2014); Twentieth Report HC 219-xix (2014-15), chapter 4 (19
November 2014) and Twenty-fifth Report HC 219-xxiv (2014-15),
chapter 2 (10 December 2014).
9 35072, 11496/13: see Ninth Report HC 83-ix (2013-14),
chapter 5 (10 July 2013); Fifth Report HC 219-v (2014-15), chapter 5
(2 July 2014) and Twentieth Report HC 219-xix (2014-15), chapter 4
(19 November 2014). Back
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