The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Multilateral Agreement between the Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Croatia, the European Community, the Republic of Iceland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Kingdom of Norway, Serbia and Montenegro, Romania and the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo on the Establishment of a European Common Aviation Area (ECAA).

The resolution makes the following points:

Environment : MEPs note that it is important that the ECAA agreement should cover current and future EU legislation on emissions and other measures that will reduce the environmental impact of aviation. In this context, they welcome the fact that the parties to the agreement accept that at some point in the future aviation may be included in emissions trading schemes (ETS). They stress the importance of the agreement in terms of creating the conditions for enlarging the Single European Sky (SES) beyond Member States.

Safety and Security : MEPs insist that all EU safety and security legislation and the recently adopted Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 concerning the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air must be included in the operational annex to the agreement. They note that air traffic management is included in the agreement, a fact which is important from the point of view of applying the SES rules, such as those for developing transborder air space blocks. They welcome the advantages of reciprocal and coherent application of the Safety Assessment contained in Directive 2004/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on the safety of third-country aircraft using Community airports by all parties to the agreement.

Social issues : Parliament stresses the fact that relevant EU social legislation must be complied with when implementing the agreement. It notes that there must be prompt implementation of the commitments in the agreement and that a progress report must be submitted to the European Parliament by 31 December 2008. The Commission and the Council are called upon to ensure that the agreement reflects these key considerations and that arrangements for monitoring are established in connection with the implementation process.