CD&V

Speech by Yves Leterme at the Gala Dinner of the Aviation Summit

October 26 2010, 6:14am

Dear Etienne (State Secretary for Mobility)Ladies and Gentlemen,Over the past two years the countries of Europe have put a lot of energy and money into stabilising the financial markets and fighting the global crisis. Much of this stabilising effort was only possible through a common and coordinated European response. These fast, focused interventions briefly drew our attention away from the long-term challenges Europe is facing: the intensifying globalisation of the economy, the scarcity of resources, the ageing population and of course the need for a sustainable mobility.The European Union must take charge of its future now and the new Europe 2020 strategy is the most valuable tool we have for that endeavour. The strategy offers a concrete way to leave the crisis behind, while turning the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion.The programme of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union focuses specifically on the sustainable growth objective set by the Heads of State and Government.  In the weeks ahead, the Belgian Presidency will continue to examine the seven flagship initiatives announced by the European Commission in connection with the Europe 2020 strategy. One of the Flagship Initiatives of this strategy is called "A resource efficient Europe". This Flagship aims at decoupling economic growth from the use of resources by decarbonising our economy, meanwhile increasing the use of renewable energy sources, modernising our transport sector and promoting energy efficiency. This flagship should be seen as an opportunity for each member state of the Union to accelerate the modernisation of its national transport sector within a common and united  European framework.  It is my conviction that even with the best will and greatest efforts individual member states will not reach those 2020 targets unless all EU member states act collectively, as a Union.  That is in particular the case for air transport.For all of those reasons, I have to say that it  is an excellent idea of my dear friend State Secretary Etienne Schouppe to gather the civil aviation stakeholders of all Europe and outside Europe to discuss the future of air transportation here in Bruges.  Gatherings like this one are quintessential to create common ground on the subject of aviation and I am sure that they will facilitate future collective action of the European member states on aviation matters.Ladies and Gentlemen,We all know that the aviation sector faces important threats and challenges.  Indeed, since the start of this century the sector was not only confronted with the negative effects of the economic crisis, but it also had to respond to threats of terrorist attacks and to natural disasters. The eruption of  the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano (Eyjafjallajoekull)  in March (21) of this year was a major and unforeseeable setback for the Aviation sector in Europe.Nevertheless, air traffic in both passenger and cargo transport is increasing. Air transport demand has historically  followed the evolution of economic growth. In Europe, the current direct and indirect contribution to GDP by the air transport sector is about € 275 billion annually, employing 4.5 million people. Every 5per cent of annual growth in air transport creates a 2.2 per cent increase in related employment. By 2020 over 6 million people could be employed in the European air transport sector. Being confronted with these statistics,  there can be no doubt that civil aviation makes an important contribution to  economic prosperity: civil aviation opens up new market opportunities, but is also the main vehicle of tourism in Europe and brings freedom of movement to our fellow citizens.Ladies and Gentlemen,This Summit is organised around four main topics: competitiveness, safety  and security, climate change and Single European Sky II.  It is a very well balanced program that provides a good overview of the challenges civil aviation will have to face in the coming years.One of these four challenges that I find very important is the acceleration of the full implementation of the Single European Sky, as recommended in the Council conclusions of 4 May 2010 (following the ash cloud crisis). The result  has to be a high-performing, safe, green and efficient air traffic system that resolves the capacity constraints on the ground and in the air.  Air navigation service providers integration within Functional Airspace Blocks  should be accelerated to reach the required performance.  I can assure you that there is a strong political will from our side to implement  the Functional Airspace Block Europe Central (FABEC) as it is crucial to deal with the dense air traffic in our part of Europe.  Civil Aviation, airports and Air navigation service providers can count on us to help them along with this project.Allow me to touch upon another important challenge for the future of the aircraft industry. It is my sense that Europe is missing out on new shared industrial projects. By this, I mean meaningful, inspiring projects, such as Ariane, high-speed trains and Airbus. This is not about symbols and prestige, but about promoting prosperity and creating jobs. In my view, European decision makers should pay even more attention to stimulating the aircraft industry in building greener and more sustainable European airplanes. A new impetus for the common projects set up by the European Commission can help our aviation sector to cope with the four challenges discussed at this Summit.A better mobility through sustainable civil aviation within a harmonized Single European Sky (SES) will strengthen the Single Market. In that way it will also unite  European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace.Belgium lies, of course, at the crossroads of numerous European networks. The transport and logistics business is one of the important economic sectors in Belgium.  As a matter of fact, sustainable mobility might even be of more capital importance to our country than to other member states. During the middle ages already, Bruges was one of the  important ports in Europe.  By choosing Bruges as location for this Summit, the organisation was not only looking at the air transport challenges, but it also wanted to pay its respects to everyone who since the middle ages worked hard in making our country a transport and logistics centre. Finally I would  like to thank State Secretary Etienne Schouppe and his team for the organisation of this Aviation Summit in Bruges.Thank you.