10/06/2013
Very few of us took any notice on
3 May when the European Commission announced its latest plans on the Single European Sky, with talk of "more ambitious performance targets". The scheme requires Member States to adopt national or FAB performance plans for fixed reference periods.
Achieving performance targets to increase European airspace capacity and cut costs go to the heart of the Single European Sky (SES), says the Commission. They are vital for its entire success, and the success of the performance scheme will depend on the level of ambition of EU-wide targets for the second reference period which will run from 2015 until 2019.
Overall, the Commission has a point. The inefficiencies caused by Europe's fragmented airspace bring extra costs of close to â¬5 billion each year. They adds 25 miles to the distance of an average flight, forcing aircraft to burn more fuel. And be comparison, the United States controls the same amount of airspace, with more traffic, at almost half the cost.
But, while this is the very sort of thing that Mr Cameron might laud as a perfect example of why we need this wondrous construct called the European Union, French unions are very
far from impressed. Having leaned of the new performance targets, they have decided to stage a three-day strike for this week.
The union action will coincide with the next phase of the European Commission plans, scheduled for Tuesday, when the Single European Sky (SES) II+ package of measures is announced.
The European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) had already announced that that air traffic management employees will mobilise for a European Action Day on 12 June to demand the establishment of a fair, cooperative and social SES and to "stop a never-ending process of liberalisation, deregulation and cost-cutting in the ATM industry".
And there we have the dagger poised at the heart of the European experiment. In October
last year vice-president Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for transport was complaining that, after ten years, the SES was still "not delivering".
The core problems, he said, remained the same: too little capacity generating the potential for a negative impact on safety at too high a price. "There are some signs of change", he added, "but overall progress is too slow and too limited. We need to think of other solutions and apply them quickly. There is too much national fragmentation. Promised improvements have not materialised".
Yet, whenever it comes to delivering on its plans, the EU always fails. It is great at bullying Britain, and forcing member states to comply with whatever comes out of Brussels, but whenever the shoe is on the other foot, and Brussels has to deliver, nothing serious ever gets done.
But then, trying to get the liberal "free-market" British to cosy up with the dirigiste French and the rule-bound Germans, together with the anarchic Belgians, all with the corrupt Greeks, the Italian jokers and the rest, always was a crazy idea.
At least though, there is some small comfort for any eurosceptics trying to fly to or over France in the next few days. They can blame the delays and disruption on the EU and ruminate that this is how it is always going to be when the EU tries to run the show.
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