TRANSPORT COUNCIL: MINISTERS REACH AGREEMENT ON LICENCE FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS.

• Position: Standards - Brief article

The political agreement will be transformed into a common position which should in turn be adopted without amendment by Parliament in second reading. The highly-technical proposal covers all the links in the licensing chain, notably conditions for access to the profession, training objectives, linguistic requirements, etc. It will complement existing European Single Sky legislation with a view to improving safety and promoting the mobility of air traffic controllers (a point on which Parliament laid considerable emphasis).

The issue of linguistic requirements was the most hotly debated within the Council. The political agreement provides for a relatively high level (corresponding to level 4 on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) assessment scale) of knowledge of English and, where member states deem appropriate on safety grounds, the local tongue too. The requirement regarding the local...