13. CREATION OF A SINGLE EUROPEAN
SKY (13735/99)
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of
the Committee, to Chris Mullin MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Thank you for your Explanatory Memorandum of
18 January 2000, which was discussed at Sub-Committee B's meeting
on 2 February.
The Sub-Committee last conducted an inquiry
into the Management of European Airspace in 1996 in a report entitled
Air Traffic Management (HL Paper 105)—its chief recommendation
was that the Commission should not become a member of EUROCONTROL
or ECAC (paragraph 93).
The Sub-Committee noted that this Communication
was an interim account from the Commission on a continuing process
of negotiation, and attaches considerable importance to the United
Kingdom's participation in the High Level Group discussions.
It is important that we be kept fully informed
of the outcome of these discussions before they are presented
to the Transport Council on 26-27 June 2000. In the meantime,
the scrutiny reserve is lifted on this specific document.
3 February 2000
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of
the Committee, to Lord MacDonald of Tradeston CBE, Minister for
Transport, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
This document, under your Department's Explanatory
Memorandum 13735/99, was considered at Sub-Committee B's fifth
meeting on 2 February. Subsequently, I wrote to the Parliamentary
Under-Secretary at the Department of the Environment, Transport
and the Regions, Mr Chris Mullin MP, pointing out that the Sub-Committee
had conducted an inquiry into the Management of European Air space
in 1996 in a report entitled Air Traffic Management and
that its chief recommendation was that the Commission should not
become a member of EUROCONTROL or ECAC.
The Sub-Committee was prepared to lift the scrutiny
reserve on this specific document, but it was on the understanding
that it would be consulted on the outcome of the High Level Group
discussions and that the Sub-Committee would be properly informed
of the outcome of these discussions before they were presented
to the Transport Council on 26-27 June.
I am therefore somewhat alarmed to see from
your letter dated 31 March that the Government has "effectively
agreed" to "the terms of the Community accession to
EUROCONTROL". This was not what we intended when lifting
the scrutiny reserve on this document. I should be grateful to
learn why my letter of 3 February to Chris Mullin was not taken
into consideration at that time. We are, in effect, being presented
with a fait accompli.
9 May 2000
Letter from the Rt Hon Lord MacDonald
of Tradeston CBE, Minister for Transport, Department of the Environment,
Transport and the Regions, to Lord Tordoff, Chairman of the Committee
Thank you for your letter of 9 May, expressing
concern about developments on the question of Community accession
to EUROCONTROL.
As I said in my letter of 31 March, the terms
of Community accession are effectively agreed, though the Gibraltar
problem remains to be resolved. In the meantime, let me assure
you that the Government does not view this as a "fait accompli"
or take parliamentary approval for granted. In due course, ratification
of an Accession Protocol by both the UK (as a member of EUROCONTROL)
and by the Community would be subject to UK Parliamentary scrutiny
procedures. This is still some way off. Nevertheless, as I also
explained in my letter, I intend to submit to you an "unnumbered"
Explanatory Memorandum on Community accession to EUROCONTROL once
we receive a proposal for a Council decision authorising signature.
This will explain in more detail the proposed terms of accession.
I note that Sub-Committee B was opposed in 1996
to the EC's accession to EUROCONTROL. My predecessors did, of
course, inform the Parliamentary Scrutiny Committees of the Government's
intention to make progress on Community membership of EUROCONTROL
during the UK Presidency in 1998, and of the decision taken at
the June 1998 Transport Council to agree a mandate for such negotiations.
However, in accordance with guidance, negotiating mandates are
not subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Moreover, there has been
a climate of change in Europe since 1996, as a result of which
Community accession could now be viewed in a more positive light.
It is likely to result in overall benefits to European Air Traffic
Management.
It might be helpful if I clarify the relationship
between the accession of the Community to EUROCONTROL and the
Commission's Single Sky Communication. Negotiations on the Community's
accession to EUROCONTROL began during 1998 and were therefore
well advanced before the Commission's Single Sky Communication
was published. There is clearly a link between the two initiatives,
in that Community membership of EUROCONTROL could play an important
role in helping to deliver any proposals arising from the Commission's
Single Sky initiative. However, the two issues are not directly
inter-dependent.
You may also wish to know that the Single Sky
initiative is not now likely to result in a single and final proposal
to the Transport Council in June. A stepped approach seems more
likely and, while an interim report will be presented to the June
Transport Council, detailed proposals may not emerge until later
this year, or, more probably, in 2001.
6 June 2000
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of
the Committee, to Lord MacDonald of Tradeston CBE, Minister for
Transport, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Thank you for your letter dated 6 June 2000
which was considered by Sub-Committee B at its 22nd meeting on
21 June 2000.
The Sub-Committee notes that the question of
the Commission's accession to EUROCONTROL is a separate issue
from the Single European Sky initiative. The Sub-Committee also
notes that the Government's acceptance of the Commission's case
dates from the UK Presidency in 1998.
The Sub-Committee would, however, like to see
the arguments advanced for it and would be grateful if the unnumbered
Explanatory Memorandum promised in the second paragraph of your
letter could be submitted now rather than after the resolution
of the Gibraltar dispute.
21 June 2000
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