Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the Commission. − Mr President, the Commission welcomes the agreement reached in first reading on the last of our four proposals on the alignment of existing legislative acts in the new comitology procedure with scrutiny.
In the framework of this agreement, the Commission would like to make two statements, the text of which I will hand over to your services in order to include them in the record of this sitting.
The first statement concerns a commitment of the Commission concerning the transmission of draft measures to the European Parliament when the time limits have been curtailed, and the second statement relates to the application of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny as regards the procedural rules for the updating of the Community blacklist of air carriers subject to an operating ban.
Commission statements
Transmission of draft measures to the European Parliament
The time-limits within which the European Parliament and the Council may oppose a draft measure, according to Article 5a(3)(c) of Council Decision 1999/468/EC, have been curtailed to four weeks or one month, in some provisions of the following basic acts: Directive 2004/17/EC, Directive 2004/18/EC and Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005. When transmitting draft measures to the European Parliament and to the Council in application of those provisions, the Commission commits itself, except during the European Parliament’s periods of recess, to take into account the necessity for the European Parliament to hold a plenary session before the expiration of the relevant curtailed time-limits, and reiterates its commitments under the Agreement between the European Parliament and the Commission on procedures for implementing Council Decision 1999/468/EC, as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC, in particular in respect of the early warning system provided for in paragraph 16 thereof.
Application de la procédure de réglementation
La Commission prend note avec regret de la décision d’appliquer la PRAC à l’article 8.1 du règlement 2111/2005. Elle tient à souligner à cet égard que les règles de mise en œuvre auxquelles il est fait référence sont de nature procédurale et administrative et détaillent les règles déjà contenues dans l’acte de base. La Commission rappelle l’importance de garantir le plus haut niveau de sécurité aérienne. Pour atteindre cet objectif, elle se base sur des critères stricts, internationalement reconnus, appliqués de façon objective. Ceci a toujours été le cas lors des mises à jour de la liste noire qui ont eu lieu depuis que le règlement 2111/2005 est entré en vigueur. La Commission considère qu’il faut poursuivre le travail dans ce dossier exclusivement sur base de critères techniques. La Commission estime par conséquent que les règles de procédure doivent en tout état de cause continuer à garantir un niveau élevé de sécurité et d’efficacité.