Julian Moxon and Alan George/BRUSSELS
New details of the planned European Air Safety Authority (EASA) have been revealed by European transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock. In spite of the progress, he admits that there remain "several very difficult political issues" to be resolved.
The European Commission (EC) has called a meeting on 11 February at which industry organisations have been invited to comment on ESAS issues outlined in a document circulated in early January. These include:
what role, if any, should be played in EASA by national aviation authorities; which decisions should be taken by EASA's political-level management and which by its executive management; whether EASA's rule-making powers should include safety regulation of air-traffic management and airports; the geographical extent of EASA membership.Organisations being consulted include the European Association of Aerospace Industries, the Association of European Airlines and the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations.
The creation of the Authority has already been given a high priority by the UK during its six-month presidency of the European Union (EU), which started on 1 January.
Kinnock revealed something of the Commission's view during a 27 January speech at the Forum Europe seminar in Brussels on "The outlook for civil aviation in the EU". The Transport Commissioner said that the initial proposal centres on an Authority with a "global remit", covering not only aircraft safety, but also that of the airports, air-traffic management and other bodies. It should be given "-delegated powers when joint certification is more efficient and less costly, and when it is not, the Authority should be able to oversee the action of national bodies in order to ensure that rules are effectively and uniformly applied".
Claude Probst, head of the EC's air-safety unit at the transport directorate, adds that the EC's role should be to "organise a level playing field "in the jurisdiction of the Authority. "Everyone agrees that the organisation of aviation safety in Europe is unsatisfactory. There is a need for change, but there are differences of opinion about how to achieve it - whether to go for the decentralised version, essentially giving the Joint Aviation Authorities legal status and introducing majority voting, or to decide on a totally new European organisation," he says.
Probst insists that EASA should be a "strong agency at the executive level, able to adopt safety rules and to check the conformity of products, organisation and personnel within its rules". It should not be "just a body of safety regulators, but an organisation at a political level".
Source: Flight International
