Dave Keating European Voice
Around 40% of flights at France's main airports have been cancelled today (11 June) as air traffic controllers walk off the job in protest of measures announced this afternoon by Siim Kallas, European transport commissioner, to force European Union countries to combine their national airspaces.
Under legislation passed in 2004, member states were supposed to complete the combination of Europe's 27 national airspaces into nine functional blocs by December 2012, however resistance from national air traffic authorities and unions have meant that not a single bloc has yet been created.
The Commission believes the original legislation was too weak and has today proposed to revise it to give it more teeth. The revised legislation would confer more powers on Eurocontrol, the international organisation that monitors European air-traffic control. It would also set stricter targets, and give the Commission the mandate to pursue infringement action against member states that do not co-operate.
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