On discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2022

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SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Transport and Tourism calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Welcomes the finding of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) that the accounts of the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) Joint Undertaking (JU) for the 2022 financial year are legal and regular in all material respects;

2. Welcomes the smooth transition to the SESAR 3 JU, operational since 30 November 2021, and acknowledges its effective coordination mechanisms; commends, in particular, the creation of the States’ Representatives Group, enabling Member States to play a direct advisory role with regard to the partnership’s priorities, planning and activities, and the formation of the SESAR 3 JU Programme Committee, which guides R&I activities and the establishment of the Scientific Committee;

3. Notes that for 2022, the execution rate was 87 % in commitment appropriations and 25 % in payment appropriations; recognises that the low execution of payments is a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis, and expects the closure of all SESAR 2020 projects by the end of 2023;

4. Notes that by the end of 2022, SESAR had fully committed the maximum EU operational contribution of EUR 555.8 million for signed grant agreements and contracts under the Horizon 2020 programme; points out that approximately EUR 65.7 million (11.8 %) of this committed amount remains to be paid in the years to come for ongoing projects and contracts;

5. Welcomes the fact that SESAR continued to manage 71 projects in exploratory, industrial and validation research, with 300 different beneficiaries, of which nearly 20 % are SMEs, 17 % are higher education institutions and 9 % are research organisations; recalls that the JU creates new opportunities for SMEs;

6. Notes that the SESAR 3 JU’s revenue of EUR 143.47 million for 2022, with EUR 139.57 million from the Union, EUR 0.918 million from Eurocontrol and EUR 2.05 million from other members; further notes that, when determining the error rate, SESAR 3 JU took into account the outcomes of the remaining three participations that were being finalised, and that this resulted in a detected error rate of 2.39 %, with a systematic error rate of 1.69 % and a residual error rate of 1.75 %, well below the threshold; notes that the error rates reported for 2022, annual and cumulative, stayed within the materiality threshold;

7. Notes that in 2022, the SESAR 3 JU continued to strengthen its partnership with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), aiming to foster cooperation with it as part of the service-level agreement (SLA), and to task EASA with providing services within the area of ATM and/or air navigation services, including the implementation of the Single European Sky; stresses the importance of the further development of the Single European Sky;

8. Welcomes the contribution of SESAR to reacting to the illegal and unjustified Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, as some traffic flows were affected, necessitating the adaptation of the air traffic control operations of the JU, which led to an increased need for air traffic controllers; acknowledges the exclusion of legal entities in Belarus, Russia and non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine from participating in Horizon Europe;

9. Notes that in Europe, military aviation encompasses hundreds of military areas and dozens of military airfields; further notes that an estimated 30 % of European military flights adhere to general air traffic rules, while the rest operate as operational air traffic, and that military flights are carried out for a wide variety of reasons, including training exercises, homeland security (including sovereignty missions) and cross-border crisis operations; emphasises the need for widespread military involvement in SESAR Solutions in order to ensure that effective military missions and airspace use can be integrated with other uses of airspace across Europe;

10. Notes the 2022 surplus of EUR 107.2 million, attributed to the late adoption of the Single Basic Act;

11. Stresses the importance of the Undertaking in achieving the Digital European Sky, resulting in 48 selected projects, including the launch of five Digital Sky Demonstrators, with a total investment of EUR 350 million; salutes the close dialogue since 2011 between the SESAR 3 JU and the European Defence Agency (EDA) on military matters and inputs into the Digital European Sky programme; notes that the EDA now serves as the main interface between the Digital European Sky programme on the one hand, and military aviation and ATM on the other, and is responsible for coordinating military views with regard to the Single European Sky and SESAR;

12. Welcomes the corrective actions taken in response to the ECA’s observation of 2021; notes, in particular, that SESAR 3 has duly paid the relevant employer’s contributions to the EU pension scheme for the year 2022, in accordance with the invoices issued by the Commission;

13. Proposes that Parliament grants the Executive Director of the Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2022.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted

23.1.2024

Result of final vote

+:

–:

0:

30

1

4

Members present for the final vote

Magdalena Adamowicz, Andris Ameriks, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Ciarán Cuffe, Karima Delli, Carlo Fidanza, Mario Furore, Isabel García Muñoz, Elsi Katainen, Kateřina Konečná, Bogusław Liberadzki, Peter Lundgren, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Tilly Metz, Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar, Caroline Nagtegaal, Philippe Olivier, Rovana Plumb, Tomasz Piotr Poręba, Bergur Løkke Rasmussen, Dominique Riquet, Thomas Rudner, Vera Tax, Achille Variati, Petar Vitanov, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Lucia Vuolo

Substitutes present for the final vote

Markus Ferber, Vlad Gheorghe, Roman Haider, Pär Holmgren, Ljudmila Novak, Dorien Rookmaker

Substitutes under Rule 209(7) present for the final vote

Viola von Cramon-Taubadel

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

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