Frank Brenner, Director General of EUROCONTROL, addressed the 92nd meeting of the ACI EUROPE Board, which took place in Athens on 18 October.
On 18 October, the ACI EUROPE board held its 92nd meeting in Athens, at the invitation of Athens International Airport (AIA). The meeting took place jointly with the 1st Airport Chief Executives Symposium (ACES) organised by AIA, which focused on the contribution of airports to the economy.
This was the opportunity for the Board to meet with the upcoming Greek Presidency of the European Union (EU). On 1 January 2014, Greece will take up the EU Presidency for 6 months. The Presidency is the driving force of the EU Council, which is made up of all 28 EU Member States and which acts as the co-legislator on all EU affairs, in most cases jointly with the European Parliament. As Presidency, Greece will thus chair all meetings of the Council, organise its work and endeavour to reconcile divergent positions and foster compromises.
The Board held an exchange of views on the state of the industry with Mr Panos Koukoulomatis, Special Advisor to the Greek Transport Minister. Discussions then focused on the policy and regulatory initiatives that are likely to be on the agenda of the Greek Presidency for the aviation sector. These included the proposed new passenger rights regulations, security issues as well as the EC Airport package – which comprises new legislative proposals on noise, slots and ground handling. On most issues, the exchange revealed significant convergence between the ACI EUROPE positions and the Greek authorities.
In Athens, the Board also met with Frank Brenner, Director General of EUROCONTROL. The meeting allowed for a review of the cooperation between the two organisations, which is focused on airport capacity issues and the integration of airports into the ATM Network. The discussion addressed EUROCONTROL’s Centralised Services, its role as Network Manager and the possibility for EUROCONTROL to develop a specification on the Ground Coordinator concept championed by ACI EUROPE.
