RAPORT referitor la propunerea de decizie a Consiliului şi a reprezentanţilor guvernelor statelor membre ale Uniunii Europene, reuniţi în cadrul Consiliului, privind încheierea Acordului privind transportul aerian între Comunitatea Europeană şi statele sale membre, pe de o parte, şi Statele Unite ale Americii, pe de altă parte

17.9.2007 - (8044/3/2007 – COM(2006)0169 – C6‑0210/2007 – 2006/0058(CNS)) - *

Comisia pentru transport şi turism
Raportor: Saïd El Khadraoui

PROIECT DE REZOLUŢIE LEGISLATIVĂ A PARLAMENTULUI EUROPEAN

referitoare la propunerea de decizie a Consiliului şi a reprezentanţilor guvernelor statelor membre ale Uniunii Europene, reuniţi în cadrul Consiliului, privind încheierea Acordului privind transportul aerian între Comunitatea Europeană şi statele sale membre, pe de o parte, şi Statele Unite ale Americii, pe de altă parte

(8044/3/2007 – COM(2006)0169 – C6‑0210/2007 – 2006/0058(CNS))

(Procedura de consultare)

Parlamentul European,

–   având în vedere propunerea de decizie a Consiliului şi a reprezentanţilor guvernelor statelor membre ale Uniunii Europene, reuniţi în cadrul Consiliului (COM(2006)0169)[1],

–   având în vedere Decizia Consiliului şi a reprezentanţilor guvernelor statelor membre ale Uniunii Europene, reuniţi în cadrul Consiliului, privind semnarea şi aplicarea provizorie a Acordului privind transportul aerian între Comunitatea Europeană şi statele sale membre, pe de o parte, şi Statele Unite ale Americii, pe de altă parte, conţinând proiectul de acord astfel cum a fost semnat de delegaţiile UE şi SUA la 30 aprilie 2007 (8044/3/2007), (8044/3/20078044/3/2007),

–   având în vedere Rezoluţia sa din 17 ianuarie 2006 privind dezvoltarea agendei politicii externe comunitare în domeniul aviaţiei[2],

–   având în vedere Rezoluţia sa din 14 martie 2007 privind încheierea Acordului privind transportul aerian între Comunitatea Europeană şi statele sale membre, pe de o parte, şi Statele Unite ale Americii, pe de altă parte[3],

–   având în vedere articolul 80 alineatul (2) şi articolul 300 alineatul (2) primul paragraf din Tratatul CE,

–   având în vedere articolul 300 alineatul (3) primul paragraf din Tratatul CE, în temeiul căruia a fost consultat de către Consiliu (C6‑0210/2007),

–   având în vedere articolul 51 şi articolul 83 alineatul (7) din Regulamentul său de procedură,

–   având în vedere raportul Comisiei pentru transport şi turism (A6‑0320/2007),

1.  aprobă încheierea acordului;

2.  încredinţează Preşedintelui sarcina de a transmite poziţia Parlamentului Consiliului şi Comisiei, precum şi guvernelor şi parlamentelor statelor membre şi ale Statelor Unite ale Americii.

• [1]  Nepublicată încă în JO.
• [2]  JO C 287 E, 24.11.2006, p.84.
• [3]  Texte adoptate, P6_TA(2007)0071.

EXPUNERE DE MOTIVE

Towards an EU-US aviation agreement

Air services between the EU and US presently operate on the basis of bilateral agreements between individual Member States and the US. These bilateral agreements contain provisions that the European Court of Justice ruled in November 2002 to be incompatible with Community law. Therefore it was decided to create a new legal framework for UE-US aviation relations and negotiations on an Air Transport Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, on the one hand, and the United States of America, on the other hand, were conducted by the European Commission under a mandate received from the Council in June 2003. This mandate set the objective of establishing an Open Aviation Area (OAA) between the EU and US, creating a single market for air transport between the EU and US in which investment could flow freely and in which European and US airlines would be able to provide air services without any restriction, including in the domestic markets of both parties.   Achievement of the mandate in full would require significant legislative changes in the United States, in particular to remove the existing legal restrictions on foreign ownership and control of US airlines and on cabotage. These issues remain extremely politically sensitive in the US. For this reason, the mandate recognised the possibility of implementing an agreement in a staged approach, provided that guarantees for progression to subsequent stages are given. The EU accepted during the negotiations that cabotage could not be included in a first stage agreement, but made clear to the US that a first-stage agreement would be acceptable to the EU only if meaningful progress was made towards the removal of restrictions on ownership and control of US airlines. In response to this the US Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" (NPRM) in November 2005 that would re-interpret the statutory requirement for US airlines to be under the "actual control" of US citizens so as to expand opportunities for foreign citizens to invest in and participate in the management of US airlines. This step was sufficient for the EU, provided that the NPRM would be adopted as a final rule that would constitute clear, meaningful and robust changes to US policy on ownership and control.   The DOT however decided in December 2006 to withdraw the NPRM, after reviewing a multitude of public comments, including those received from the US Congress. This made a new round of negotiations on the draft agreement necessary, to make it in another way acceptable for the EU side. These resulted in a new draft agreement on 2 March 2007, which was signed at the EU-US summit of 30 April 2007. The Council endorsed the draft agreement and decided to apply it provisionally as from 30 March 2008.

Parliament's first appreciation

Parliament responded swiftly to the new draft agreement by means of its Resolution of 14 March 2007 on the conclusion of the Air Transport Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, on the one hand, and the United States of America, on the other hand (T6-0071/2007). It welcomed the first-stage Agreement as an important step towards an integrated transatlantic aviation market that will be to the benefit of consumers. Although it would have preferred the conclusion of one balanced overall agreement, it could accept the phased approach, because in Article 21 of the draft agreement an agenda and a clear timetable for negotiations on a second-stage agreement is given. A second stage agreement should deal with issues as cabotage, right of establishment, ownership and de facto control and state aid.

Parliament also noted that the development of regulatory convergence is only partially dealt with in the draft agreement and is left to a large extent to the joint committee. Nevertheless, Parliament welcomed cooperation between the EU and US authorities responsible for the field of aviation safety. As for security, the importance of security measures for aviation was recognised but they should be based on a proper risk assessment and not be excessive or uncoordinated. The concept of 'one stop security', checking passengers and luggage only at the start of their journey and not again at every transfer, was advocated. The privacy of European and US citizens should be respected when personal passenger data are exchanged between the EU and the US.

Furthermore is was recognised that the aviation sector has several negative environmental effects, in particular as a source of noise and as a contributor to climate change, and that these effects will increase with the growth of aviation. The need for both the EU and the US to take effective measures to reduce the negative environmental impact of aviation was underlined. In that respect it welcomed the Commission proposal to include aviation in the European emissions trading system, but also pointed out that talks will need to be held with the US at an early stage with a view to encompassing transatlantic air traffic within the European emissions trading system by 2012.  Finally, US and EU aviation stakeholders should enter into a continuous dialogue on social standards, with the aim of promoting mutual understanding, a level playing field and high social standards at the same time and international social legislation should be applied.

Parliament called on the Commission to ensure full information and consultation of the European Parliament before and throughout second-stage negotiations and welcomed regular meetings between Members of the European Parliament and the US Congress to discuss all relevant issues concerning an EU-US aviation agreement. The Rapporteur will, therefore, look for a more systematic dialogue and exchange of information directly with the US Administration and Congress with a view to better monitor the implementation of the current agreement and the preparation of the second stage agreement.

Additional remarks

The Council has asked Parliament by letter of 7 June 2007 to give its opinion on the draft Agreement. In the same letter, the Council informed Parliament that the Agreement will be applied provisionally as from 30 March 2008.

In the light of the remarks above on the way to this Agreement and Parliament's Resolution of 14 March 2007, your Rapporteur proposes to approve the Agreement. At the same time, he underlines the need to address all the issues not included sufficiently in this first stage agreement to be dealt with in the second stage agreement.

PROCEDURĂ

Titlu	Acordul privind transportul aerian între Comunitatea Europeană şi SUA
Referinţe	COM(2006)0169 - C6-0210/2007 - 2006/0058(CNS)
Data consultării PE	7.6.2007
Comisia competentă în fond        Data anunţului în plen	TRAN 9.7.2007
Comisia (comisiile) sesizată(e) pentru avizare        Data anunţului în plen	LIBE 9.7.2007
Avize care nu au fost emise        Data deciziei	LIBE 3.9.2007
Raportor(i)        Data numirii	Saïd El Khadraoui 30.6.2006
Examinare în comisie	22.11.2006		24.1.2007		27.8.2007		11.9.2007
Data adoptării	11.9.2007
Rezultatul votului final	+: –: 0:	37 0 0
Membri titulari prezenţi la votul final	Michael Cramer, Arūnas Degutis, Christine De Veyrac, Petr Duchoň, Saïd El Khadraoui, Robert Evans, Georg Jarzembowski, Stanisław Jałowiecki, Timothy Kirkhope, Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, Jaromír Kohlíček, Sepp Kusstatscher, Bogusław Liberadzki, Eva Lichtenberger, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Robert Navarro, Josu Ortuondo Larrea, Paweł Bartłomiej Piskorski, Luís Queiró, Reinhard Rack, Brian Simpson, Renate Sommer, Dirk Sterckx, Silvia-Adriana Ţicău, Yannick Vaugrenard, Lars Wohlin, Roberts Zīle
Membri supleanţi prezenţi la votul final	Johannes Blokland, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Elisabeth Jeggle, Anne E. Jensen, Antonio López-Istúriz White, Helmuth Markov, Willem Schuth, Catherine Stihler, Ari Vatanen
Membri supleanţi (articolul 178 alineatul (2)) prezenţi la votul final	Ralf Walter