EUROCONTROL is the European Organisation

[Michael Grove]

    ... for the Safety of Air Navigation and is an inter-governmental

    organisation working for seamless, pan-European air traffic

    management. The organization was established in 1960 by six

    European States, i.e. Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg,

    The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, for the purpose of

    developing a coherent and coordinated air traffic control system

    in Europe. The EUROCONTROL International Convention relating

    to Co-operation for the Safety of Air Navigation was signed at

    Brussels on 13 December 1960 and entered into force on 1 March 1963.

    Four Member States (Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and

    The Netherlands) agreed in 1964 to set up a single international

    air traffic control centre to manage their upper airspace, finally settling

    on Maastricht in the Netherlands. In 2014, the organisation had

    40 Member States, counting the European Community as a member.

  

    The Organization’s strategic objectives are classified in specific areas:

    Safety, Capacity, Efficiency, Security, and Environment. To achieve

    its mission and objectives, EUROCONTROL initiates, develops, and

    coordinates short-, medium- and long-term pan-European air traffic

    management strategies and their associated action plans. This is done

    in a collective effort involving civil and military aviation stakeholders

    (national authorities, air navigation service providers, civil and military

    airspace users, airports, industry, professional organizations), the

    European institutions (such as the European Aviation Safety Agency,

    the European Community, the European Civil Aviation Conference, etc.),

    and international aviation bodies.

 

     EUROCONTROL’s main offices are located as follows: the Headquarters

     in Brussels, Belgium; the Research Centre in Brétigny-sur-Orge, France;

     the Maastricht Upper  Area Control (MUAC) centre in Beek/Maastricht,

     Netherlands; and the Training Institute in Luxembourg.
     

     Although Eurocontrol is not an agency of the European Union, the

     EU has delegated parts of its Single European Sky regulations to   

     Eurocontrol, making it the central organisation for coordination

     and planning of air traffic control for all of Europe.^[3] The EU itself

     is a signatory of Eurocontrol and all EU member states are presently           

     also members of Eurocontrol.^[4]The organisation works with national

     authorities, air navigation service providers, civil and military airspace

     users, airports,  and other organisations. Its activities involve all

     gate-to-gate air navigation service operations: strategic and tactical

     flow management, controller training, regional control of airspace,

     safety proofed technologies and procedures, and collection of air

     navigation charges.

     The Eurocontrol Convention was signed in 1960 and ratified in 1963.

     Before the Convention entered into force in 1963, there were already

     indications that the matter of national sovereignty would complicate

     the full implementation of the organisation’s founding mission.

     The first European plan for a harmonised air traffic control (ATC)

     system, proposed in 1962, was beset by the refusal of both France

     and Britain to comply, largely due to reasons closely linked with their

     national military airspace control. The other four original members

     (the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, the  Netherlands and

     Luxembourg) agreed in 1964 to set up a single international air traffic

     control centre to manage their upper airspace, settling on the site of    

     the Beek Airfield to the north of the Dutch city of Maastricht.^[5]

     The European Parliament at the time expressed concern about the lack

     of clear intergovernmental agreements to ensure common air traffic

     control services across the continent. In 1979, Eurocontrol signed a

     working cooperation agreement with the European Commission,

     attempting to create a synergy of Eurocontrol’s technical expertise and

     EU’s regulatory authorities. Several initiatives originating in this period

     become a lasting element of the organisation, such as the Eurocontrol

     forecasting service, which became STATFOR, as well as the Aeronautical

     Information Service.

     
    By 1986, the pressures on the European ATC network was so big that

    a new, wider mandate was already being considered for Eurocontrol,

    with much of the initiative coming from ECAC’s Ministers of Transport.  

    Subsequently, ECAC urged all of its member states to join Eurocontrol.^[5]

                                                                                                          

                                                                   ...

   ALL of which was happening of course at a [TIME] when there was much

   discussion concerning the use of Air Power on a global basis and the 

   interaction of Military/Civilian Flight Operations with the introduction of

   new technology such as the XB-70A Valkyrie.



   ... and so [IT] was that COP 16 took place from 29

     November to 10 December 2010 in Cancun, Mexico.

.

[Michael Grove]