Single European Sky: organisation and use of the airspace

The Conciliation Committee reached agreement on the regulation on the organisation and use of airspace in the Single European Sky. The main elements of the compromise were as follows: - Eurocontrol should be involved in the development of common general principles for the creation of uniform functional airspace blocks; - on the sensitive question of the procedure to apply in case of difficulties arising between Member States with regard to cross-border blocks, the agreement reached allows Member States to refer disputes to the Single Sky Committee and requires them to take acount of the Committee's opinion "in order to find a solution". In addition, the Commission made a statement in which it undertakes to review the situation after five years and, if necessary, make proposals for a modification of the system; - Council agreed to the importance of reflecting upon the extension of upper airspace concepts to lower airspace in accordance with a timetable and appropriate studies. In this respect, the Commission will submit a report to Parliament and Council at the latest by 31 December 2006, accompanied if appropriate by a proposal. If such an extension is envisaged, the relevant decisions should be taken before 31 December 2009; - in addition to the general commitment to civil-military cooperation made in the context of the framework regulation, which applies to the whole Single Sky package, Parliament obtained further specific concessions with regard to data exchange between all air navigation service providers, airspace users and airports, be they civil or military. Recognition was also given to the importance of cooperation between neighbouring Member States in applying the concept of the flexible use of airspace across national borders. �