Serious issue of flight safety — unlawful use of Civil Aviation Authority funds from Eurocontrol to service debt

Under Decision 1090 by the Deputy Minister for Finance on servicing of the public debt (Government Gazette II/2050 of 29.07.2014), the Public Debt Management Agency has obtained access to the following bank accounts: (1) ‘Proceeds from transfer of future revenue of the Greek State from Eurocontrol’ and (2) ‘Airspace fees remitted by Eurocontrol’, i.e. to funds which are paid to Eurocontrol by aircraft using the Athens FIR and then channelled to the Civil Aviation Authority for targeted actions, such as investments to maintain air traffic control systems and thus safeguard the maximum possible level of flight safety.

The above ministerial decision harbours extremely serious risks in terms of the safety of airline passengers and staff.

It is a blatant infringement of EC law, as Community funds are being used in an unlawful and distorting manner at the demand of the Troika to reduce the public debt, which is disgraceful.

In view of the above, will the Commission say:

Source: European Parliament

Answer given by Ms Bulc on behalf of the Commission

1. The Commission is aware of decision 1090/08-07-2014, and its supplement 2/81453/A0024 and has previously investigated the securitisation system put in place by the Hellenic Republic to secure incomes from route charges as collected by Eurocontrol. The Commission has no evidence that such charges levied against the provision of the Air Traffic Service are not attributed to that service provider to cover staffing and investment costs.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has carried out two routine safety inspections in Greece since 2012 and is following-up recommendations from those reports. Those EASA reports did not advise closure of Hellenic airspace to ensure safety of air traffic. Additionally, Commissioner Bulc has written to the Ministers of the BlueMed Functional Airspace Block Countries (Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus) seeking urgent action to alleviate capacity shortfalls in the region thereby further reducing the risk of safety infringements.
2. The EU has no authority to revoke national law, only to ensure action is taken by the state to do so where it runs contrary to EU law. The Commission is punctilious in ensuring EU law is applied by all member states and utilises all available tools to do so. The Commission will however discuss the situation again with EASA to determine whether a further system audit of the Hellenic Service Provider is necessary.