REPORT on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and Serbia and Montenegro on certain aspects of air services

11.4.2006 - (COM(2005)0353 – C6‑0114/2006 – 2005/0141(CNS)) - *

Committee on Transport and Tourism
Rapporteur: Paolo Costa

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and Serbia and Montenegro on certain aspects of air services

(COM(2005)0353 – C6‑0114/2006 – 2005/0141(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (COM(2005)0353)[1],

–   having regard to Articles 80(2) and 300(2), first subparagraph, first sentence, of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Article 300(3), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6‑0114/2006),

–   having regard to Rules 51 and 83(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A6‑0126/2006),

1.  Approves conclusion of the agreement;

2.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and Serbia and Montenegro.

• [1]  Not yet published in OJ.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

As ruled by the Court of Justice of the European Communities, the Community has exclusive competence with respect to various aspects of external aviation which were traditionally governed by bilateral air services agreements between Member States and third countries.

Consequently, the Council authorised the Commission in June 2003 to open negotiations with third countries in order to replace certain provisions in existing bilateral agreements with Community agreements.

Thus, the Commission has negotiated an Agreement with Serbia and Montenegro that replaces certain provisions in the existing bilateral air services agreements between Member States and Serbia and Montenegro.

These changes concern:

Art. 2 (designation clauses): To avoid discrimination, the traditional designation clauses, referring only to air carriers of the Member State party to the bilateral agreement, are replaced by Community designation clauses, permitting all Community carriers to benefit from the right of establishment.

Art. 4 (taxation of aviation fuel): Whereas traditional bilateral agreements tend to exempt aircraft fuel in general from taxation, Council Directive 2003/96/EC restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity permits such taxation for operations within the territory of the Community. Under Article 4, the provisions of Directive 2003/96/EC likewise apply to aircraft of designated air carriers of Serbia and Montenegro operating within the territory of the Community.

Art. 5 (pricing): Resolves conflicts between the bilateral agreements and Council Regulation (EEC) 2409/92 on fares and rates for air services, which prohibits third country carriers from being price leaders on air services for carriage wholly within the Community.

Annex 1 and 2 list the bilateral agreements which are referred to in the different Articles of the agreements between the EU and Serbia and Montenegro, being: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK.

Annex 3 lists the other states referred to, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, which fall under the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

The agreements negotiated by the Commission should be signed and provisionally applied. The proposed Council Decision empowers the President of the Council to designate the person or persons competent to sign on behalf of the Community the above-mentioned Agreement on a provisional basis until it enters into force after completion of the necessary procedures.

Parliament is entitled to give its opinion on this Agreement under the consultation procedure, in accordance with Rule 83 'International agreements', paragraph. 7, which reads as follows:

"Parliament shall give its opinion on, or its assent to, the conclusion, renewal or amendment of an international agreement or a financial protocol concluded by the European Community in a single vote by a majority of the votes cast without amendments to the text of the agreement or protocol being admissible."

On the basis of the above your rapporteur suggests that the TRAN committee should give a favourable opinion on the conclusion of this Agreement.

PROCEDURE

Title	Proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and Serbia and Montenegro on certain aspects of air services
References	COM(2005)0353 - C6-0114-2006 - 2005/0141(CNS)
Date of consulting Parliament	31.3.2006
Committee responsible   Date announced in plenary	TRAN 6.4.2006
Committee(s) asked for opinion(s)   Date announced in plenary
Not delivering opinion(s)   Date of decision
Enhanced cooperation   Date announced in plenary
Rapporteur(s)   Date appointed	Paolo Costa 29.8.2005
Previous rapporteur(s)
Simplified procedure – date of decision  Date of decision
Legal basis disputed   Date of JURI opinion
Financial endowment amended   Date of BUDG opinion
Parliament to consult European Economic and Social Committee – date decided in plenary
Parliament to consult Committee of the Regions – date decided in plenary
Discussed in committee	22.11.2005
Date adopted	22.11.2005
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	46 0 0
Members present for the final vote	Inés Ayala Sender, Etelka Barsi-Pataky, Michael Cramer, Arūnas Degutis, Armando Dionisi, Saïd El Khadraoui, Robert Evans, Mathieu Grosch, Ewa Hedkvist Petersen, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Georg Jarzembowski, Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, Jaromír Kohlíček, Jörg Leichtfried, Fernand Le Rachinel, Bogusław Liberadzki, Eva Lichtenberger, Patrick Louis, Ashley Mote, Michael Henry Nattrass, Seán Ó Neachtain, Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Josu Ortuondo Larrea, Willi Piecyk, Luís Queiró, Reinhard Rack, Luca Romagnoli, Gilles Savary, Renate Sommer, Dirk Sterckx, Ulrich Stockmann, Gary Titley, Georgios Toussas, Marta Vincenzi, Roberts Zīle
Substitute(s) present for the final vote	Zsolt László Becsey, Den Dover, Markus Ferber, Jas Gawronski, Zita Gurmai, Elisabeth Jeggle, Sepp Kusstatscher, Helmuth Markov, Rosa Miguélez Ramos, Francesco Musotto, Willem Schuth
Substitute(s) under Rule 178(2) present for the final vote
Date tabled	11.4.2006
Comments (available in one language only)	...