EU/USA/Iceland/Norway Air Transport Agreement, and EU/Iceland/Norway Ancillary Agreement on the application of the Air Transport Agreement: accession of Croatia to the EU

The Commission is submitting an amended proposal for a Council decision approving the conclusion of the Protocol amending the ancillary Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the first part, Iceland, of the second part, and the Kingdom of Norway, of the third part, on the application of the Air Transport Agreement between the United States of America, of the first part, the European Union and its Member States, of the second part, Iceland, of the third part, and the Kingdom of Norway, of the fourth part, signed on 16 and 21 June 2011, to take account of the accession to the European Union of the Republic of Croatia.

As a reminder, on 14 November 2019, the Commission presented a proposal for a Council Decision, based on Article 218(6)(a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 6(2), second subparagraph, of the Act of Accession, approving the conclusion of a Protocol amending the Ancillary Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway on the application of the Air Transport Agreement between the United States of America and the parties to the Ancillary Agreement, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union.

The end of the transition period for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 31 December 2020 required amendments to the protocol in order to remove from it the references to the United Kingdom. The Commission has therefore negotiated with Iceland and Norway the necessary amendments to that effect. The delegations representing the parties have agreed on the amendments.

It is furthermore necessary to amend Article 2 of the proposed Council decision in order to ensure compliance with the attribution of powers among the institutions under the Treaties, and in particular the Commission’s prerogative under Article 17 of the Treaty on European Union to represent the Union externally.