Foster (PPE-DE). – Mr President, I would also like to begin by thanking our rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs for their work on this very detailed and complex report, which, of course, applies to upper air space.

Further to the last Council common position – which my Delegation broadly supported – and the subsequent conciliation procedure, we are now able to fully support this regulation. During the process, one of our key objections concerned the inclusion of military operations and training. I am delighted that this sovereign competence is now excluded. Had it not been excluded there could have been an adverse impact on NATO operations, so I am also delighted that this is no longer the case.

However, care needs to be taken during implementation that the newly-created bodies – i.e. the single sky committee and the industry consultation body – do not duplicate their efforts, thereby causing unnecessary confusion. It is quite clear that the aviation industry cannot continue to sustain the loss of USD 4 billion per year due to airspace congestion across Europe, and I believe that this regulation will go some way towards addressing this.

Eurocontrol should also be congratulated for its initiative, put in place in January 2002, which introduced reduced vertical separation. I understand that we have increased capacity by some 30% and reduced delays to the levels we saw in 1998-1999. However, it does behove certain countries and areas, such as France, Italy, Spain, southern Germany and Switzerland, which are responsible for 44% of the delays, to make radical improvements nationally if this regulation is going to succeed. Another area which needs to be addressed urgently is the shortage of air-traffic controllers across Europe.

In conclusion, with this regulation we should improve safety, efficiency and the economics of air traffic management, which, as air traffic across Europe continues to grow, is good news for the industry, for business and for the consumer.