authorising the opening of negotiations on an agreement between the European Union and each individual European Neighbourhood Policy South country for the purpose of agreeing the terms and conditions for extending the provision of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) over European Neighbourhood Policy

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

•Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System, makes existing open satellite navigation signals suitable for safety critical applications in transports, such as flying and landing aircrafts where little or no ground based radio assistance equipment is available.

EGNOS with Galileo are the two satellite navigation programmes of the European Union, regulated by the GNSS Regulation.

Cooperation on satellite navigation between European Neighbourhood Policy South countries and EU is framed in the EuroMed transport cooperation. Within the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EuroMed transport cooperation builds on the framework launched in Barcelona (1995) and evolved, since 2008, into the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) according to the Joint Declaration adopted at the heads of state or government meeting.

Article 2(5), third paragraph of the Regulation (EU) 1285/2013 ("GNSS" Regulation) stipulates that the geographical coverage of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) system may be extended to countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), subject to the technical feasibility and on the basis of international agreements. Such extensions shall not delay the extension of the geographical coverage of EGNOS throughout the Member States' territories located in Europe.

The EGNOS extension to ENP South countries corresponds to those criteria and will follow the initial actions taken with the installation of some EGNOS ground stations outside of Europe. It has the double aim to strengthen EGNOS coverage to the periphery of EU and to provide coverage to ENP South countries to enable user adoption.

The EGNOS extension to ENP South countries will not delay the extension of the geographical coverage of EGNOS throughout the EU. On the contrary, it will contribute to a better coverage of the regions South/Southeast/Southwest of the EU, and in particular to improve coverage in the Portuguese/Spanish islands in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as to Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Italy.

An analysis carried out by the European Space Agency in 2015 reinforced by industry's offer of 2017 for the development of EGNOS Version 3, confirmed the technical feasibility of such extension and concluded that three EGNOS ground stations would suffice to cover the entire airspace of the ENP South countries.

Since 2009, the concerned Commission departments have been working in coordination with the European External Action Service (EEAS) towards the extension of the EGNOS coverage to the southern Mediterranean area (i.e. the ENP South countries) and the introduction there of EGNOS Safety-of-Life (SoL) Service in aviation and other transport domains. Extending the EGNOS coverage is a win-win initiative. For the EU it will strengthen ties with neighbouring partners and create market access opportunities for its industry while the ENP South countries which will get access to EGNOS with very marginal cost compared to the EU public investment made so far.

Significant progress has been made over the years and significant interest has been demonstrated from the transport authorities of the ENP South countries. They consider the EGNOS Safety-of-Life Service as an effective means to comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requirements and they believe it provides an enabling technology for new services and applications in other transport and non-transport domains.

Six of the ENP South countries have thus formally expressed in 2014-16 at the highest political level, their interest in entering such EGNOS international agreement with EU.

It is opportune that the EU responds positively to ENP South countries' expectation to receive EGNOS Safety-of-Life (SoL) Service. The strategic aspect of such an EGNOS extension is becoming ever more evident in the light of the activities of other providers of Global Navigation Satellite Systems in the region.

A specific bilateral international agreement on EGNOS with each individual ENP South country will lay down the appropriate schemes of governance, define the roles and responsibility of each Party and decide upon financial responsibilities for the development and operations of the infrastructure needed for the provision of EGNOS-based services in each ENP South country.

The security-related aspects of an EGNOS extension to ENP South countries, including EEAS assessment of the geopolitical situation in the region, have been taken into account in this Recommendation. The security aspects will continue to be monitored and followed up during the negotiation and deployment phases. This includes the choice of the sites for the deployment of EGNOS ground infrastructure as well as their protection during the operational phase of EGNOS in ENP South countries.

•Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

EGNOS extension to ENP South countries is included in the Regional Transport Action Plan 2014-20 and was included in the Union for the Mediterranean resolution in 2013 and 2014.

An extended coverage of EGNOS Safety-of-Life Service across the Northern African and Middle Eastern territories will offer high level of safety in landing procedures, even at smaller, regional and touristic destinations, therefore it will harmonise the safety level between EU and ENP South countries and as consequence increase the adoption of EGNOS by airlines flying across the two regions.