WRITTEN QUESTION P-0126/02 by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission. Failure to adopt the airway reorganisation plan.
Date: 2002-01-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Eurocontrol, air safety, air space, air traffic, air traffic control, air transport, military aircraft, organisation of transport

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/185

(2002/C 160 E/231)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0116/02

by Concepció Ferrer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(29 January 2002)

Subject: Catalan television in France

Under Directive 89/552/EEC (1) on television without frontiers, it is legal for a television channel from one
Member State to broadcast to another Member State.

TV3-Televisió de Catalunya broadcasts to southern France and enables Catalan speakers in that area to
watch television programmes in Catalan. In so doing it promotes knowledge of one of the languages which
constitute the EU’s cultural heritage.

What action is the Commission planning to take in response to the French Higher Audiovisual Council’s
decision to ban TV3-Televisió de Catalunya from the airwaves on the grounds that it considers its
broadcasts to France to be illegal?

(1) OJ L 298, 17.10.1989, p. 23.

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(22 March 2002)

The Television without frontiers Directive (Council Directive 89/552/EEC of 3 October 1989 on the
coordination of certain provisions laid down by Law, Regulation or Administrative Action in Member
States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities, as amended by Directive 97/36/EC of the
Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997 (1)) provides that Member States shall ensure freedom of
reception on their territory of television broadcasts from other Member States (Article 2a (1)).

The Directive is based on one of the four fundamental freedoms laid down in the EC Treaty (the freedom
to provide services ; Article 49) and is in line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights, notably Article 22,
to which the Honourable Member refers.

In respect of the issue raised, the Commission is unaware of the events referred to in the Honourable
Member’s question. It will request information from the French authorities to carry out the necessary
evaluation.

(1) OJ L 202, 30.7.1997.

(2002/C 160 E/232)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0126/02

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Failure to adopt the airway reorganisation plan

(24 January 2002)

Europe’s existing airways were last codified in the 1950s. The code in question is insufficient to cope with
modern traffic conditions, resulting in intolerable permanent congestion and continual delays.

To tackle this critical situation, Eurocontrol has embarked on an infrastructure reorganisation plan which it
was supposed to have drawn up by 2001.

Can the Commission answer the following:

; Why has Eurocontrol not yet taken the necessary action to finalise the airway reorganisation plan?

; What steps has the Commission taken or will it take to restore safety and free-flowing air traffic?

C 160 E/186

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

Answer given by Ms de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(15 February 2002)

The air route network in Europe is based on a structure which was set up in the 1950s based on traffic
flows at that time. Since it was set up, this structure has undergone a number of changes to keep pace
with the growth in air traffic and with advances in the technological capabilities of aircraft and air traffic
control equipment.

The network is currently reviewed and published twice a year. More radical changes to the system can also
be made if new operational concepts are introduced (1). Reorganising the air route network is done on the
basis of proposals from the Member States ; each Member State having competence for its territorial
airspace ; and under the coordination of Eurocontrol, which is an international organisation with
technical expertise in the field of air traffic control and responsibility for settling disputes between Member
States in the case of cross-border routes.

Despite all the improvements to the network, its current organisation and structure have proved unable to
overcome constraints due national interests, be they economic or military. As regards military interests, the
network has to allow for the fact that some zones of the airspace are reserved for exclusive military use.
This means certain flights have to use fixed corridors, resulting in bottlenecks, or bypass the reserved or
low-capacity airspace, thus increasing flight distances. Technical explanations on this situation are available
in the study on airspace management on the Commission’s Website (2).

The ‘Single Sky’ proposals (3), which are currently being discussed in the Parliament and in the Council, aim
to put an end to this inefficient situation. The proposals include airspace organisation and management
mechanisms to make the introduction of direct routes easier so as to optimise Community airspace usage
from an economic and environmental point of view (by reducing fuel consumption by up to 15 %).

This will be achieved by starting with the upper airspace (above 8550 metres) and will involve:

; increasing cooperation between civil and military authorities in order to minimise the impact on the

design of air routes in the airspace zones reserved for military use;

; reconfiguring the blocks of airspace controlled by the air traffic control centres into more efficient,

optimum-sized blocks to enhance the safety and free flow of air traffic.

(1) This was the case in 1999 when a new aircraft navigation concept was introduced (Basic Area Navigation
(B-RNAV)), and again this year with the reduction by half of the vertical separation of aircraft above 8700 metres
(Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM)).

(2) http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/themes/air/english/single_eur_sky_en.html.
(3) COM(2001) 564 final/2.

(2002/C 160 E/233)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0131/02

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 February 2002)

Subject: Advertising with pornographic content

In his answer of 7 January 2002 to my written questionNoE-3095/01 (1), Commissioner Bolkestein
comments that there are no ‘cross-border implications of such national press advertising services’
in
reference to the advertisements with pornographic content published continuously in the Greek press,
which are also read by minors (as stated in my parliamentary question) whose minds are affected by them.

No doubt the Commissioner is unaware that many of these advertisements, along with others broadcast on
subscription television channels, refer to telephone sex lines in England and other countries and that,
therefore, the argument that there are no ‘cross-border implications’ is not valid.