WRITTEN QUESTION E-0077/01 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. The threat of a major air disaster because of shrinking capacity for civil aviation.
Date: 2001-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: air safety, air space, air traffic, air traffic control, civil aviation, common transport policy, report, transport staff

C 318 E/26

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.11.2001

The Commission appreciates the worry this might cause for staff sent to the Balkans on mission and its
associates in the region, and has taken the necessary steps to inform those involved as to the nature of the
risk and to carry out the analyses and examinations needed if the risk is confirmed.

The group of experts set up under Article 31 of the Euratom Treaty will soon be making a statement on
the possible radiological risk. The Commission is also in close contact with all
the international
organisations which have begun enquiries and studies on the matter.

(2001/C 318 E/027)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0077/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(29 January 2001)

Subject: The threat of a major air disaster because of shrinking capacity for civil aviation

1.
Can the Commission confirm that the (cid:145)Single European Sky(cid:146) report which it and the Council will
receive in late January gives serious cause for concern at the move from near disasters towards real
disasters, because air traffic control authorities no longer have an overview of all the consequences of their
actions, there will be a growing shortage of air traffic controllers, there is pressure to land before runways
are clear and in an overfull air space it is not possible to increase the intervals between successive
landings?

2.
To what extent, in the Commission(cid:146)s opinion, are these problems the result of an unresolved power
struggle between different air traffic control bodies and conflicting ideas about their territory and their
responsibilities? What solution does the Commission feel it can support?

Based on the capacity of the air space above the Member States of the European Union which, given
3.
the current technical state of air traffic control, can be used safely if all military restrictions persisting since
the end of the Cold War are removed, can the Commission say what percentage of this capacity is
currently actually used for civil aviation?

4. What is the percentage use of the capacity which can be used safely, as referred to in the previous
question, if the military restrictions continuing after the end of the Cold War are maintained?

In the twentieth century it was generally assumed that the capacity for growth in long-distance
5.
transport was limited on land and unlimited in the air, but that appears to be increasingly untrue. In the
Commission(cid:146)s view, what are the future limits on the volume of air traffic (cid:129) assuming the requirements of
full safety and that achieving that level of safety does not lie in a further increase in the area taken up by
airports and greater noise pollution?

6.
Does the Commission view the report as a reason, in future assessments of developments in air
transport, to lay less emphasis one-sidedly on complaints about flight delays and lengthening of travelling
time or on the economic interests and growth expectations of regions around airports, and to concentrate
more on the limits of the available capacity which have to be taken into account in order to continue to
maintain a high level of safety?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(13 March 2001)

Owing to the major delays caused by the lack of air traffic controllers noted in 1999 the
1.
Commission set up a High Level Group of representatives of the national civil and military air traffic
control authorities. That Group delivered its report in November 2000. The report has provided the
pointers needed in order to boost air traffic control for the purpose of consolidating safety and improving
performance. One may list, among the intended measures, the development of a regulatory approach
enabling more assurances to be given as regards compliance with safety standards, together with incentives

13.11.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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to recruit controllers in order to deal with the expected shortfall. The Commission is preparing to put
forward proposals for laws in order to follow up the report(cid:146)s findings.

2.
Air-transport providers carry out their responsibilities within national airspace. There is efficient
cooperation among such companies, which means that the passage of aircraft from one national territory
to another is generally fluid. Nevertheless, the constraints on air traffic make an approach based on
national territories increasingly obsolete. Moreover the Commission is planning to regulate the use and
form of airspace in order to manage it as a continuum.

Civil traffic must use corridors that often do not permit optimum traffic organisation, more
3. and 4.
especially because of the need to by-pass areas used for military purposes. In certain Member States those
areas are large and constitute a genuine impediment even though this varies with time. It is felt that more
rational organisation of traffic would enable capacity to be increased by many multiples of 10 % in certain
cases. The Commission is funding a research project which will enable the gains in capacity to be expected
from organising traffic more rationally to be plotted more accurately.

5.
The Commission feels that the actual limits do not so much reside in air traffic control as in the lack
of airport capacity and in the need to soften the environmental impact of air transport. However, the
limits are not immutable: they depend, in particular, on any progress which may be achieved in improved
airport operation and in the scope for using secondary airports, and in reducing noise nuisances and the
emission of greenhouse gases.

6.
The Commission is seeking to strike a balance between these concerns and the need to have a high-
performance transport network in which air transport occupies a prominent place. It is currently drafting
a white paper on the development of transport policy which is intended to fuel a debate on congestion
and intermodal transport.

(2001/C 318 E/028)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0108/01

by Dana Scallon (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 February 2001)

Subject: Failure of Ireland to appoint an ombudsman for farming

Why has Ireland not appointed an ombudsman for farming?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(20 February 2001)

The EC Treaty only foresees the nomination of a Community ombudsman. A national ombudsman for
agriculture is not an issue governed by any Community legislation and is therefore outside the competence
of the Commission.

The Honourable Member is requested to address the question to the Irish national authorities.

(2001/C 318 E/029)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0241/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(7 February 2001)

Subject: Abuse by animal-meal exporters of discrepancies in trading statistics

1.
Can the Commission confirm that since customs checks were abolished, it has not been possible
since 1993 for reliable statistics to be compiled for the volume of products traded and transported across
internal European Union borders?