Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Yiannis Karousos discussed in Malta the cooperation development between EU island Member States on issues related to air Connectivity during his meeting on Thursday with his Maltese counterpart, Aaron Farrugia.
According to a Ministry statement, during the meeting, the Fit for 55 developments in relation to air transport were touched upon and it was agreed that cooperation and coordination between the two countries will continue in order to maintain what has been achieved so far for the benefit of EU island and peripheral states.
It is noted that both ministers agreed that the aim is to achieve the best possible outcome in the negotiations currently taking place between the European Parliament, the EU Presidency and the European Commission, with the retention in particular in the legislative proposal of the provision for an aircraft refuelling exemption for Cyprus and Malta for airports where the distance between them is less than 1200 kilometres, the granting of 20 million free greenhouse gas emission allowances with an attempt to increase them to 60 million to promote the use of sustainable aviation fuels in order to cover the cost increase compared to conventional fuels, and specifically for Cyprus and Malta the provision to cover 100% of the price difference between sustainable aviation fuel and conventional fuel.
As mentioned, the promotion of electromobility was also discussed, with the two ministers sharing their experiences to date on the implementation of their electromobility strategy, as well as the forthcoming Transport Council to be held on 5 December in Brussels, where the amendment of the Trans-European Transport Network Regulation will be discussed.
It is also underlined that the challenges faced by the two island countries are the same, with the ministers expressing their satisfaction about their cooperation so far and stating that the necessary coordination between the two ministries will be done so that the two countries can achieve the best possible connectivity with Continental Europe through the European Transport Networks and draw funds from the EU under the Trans-European Transport Networks policy.
The Ministry communication also includes statements by Karousos, in which he notes that it is important to maintain what we have gained so far in terms of reducing the negative impact of the Fit for 55 legislative package on aviation, particularly the references and exemptions for islands, and that is why we are building alliances within the EU with countries such as Malta and taking joint initiatives to further improve the proposals to reduce the negative impact, promote our common positions in relation to air and road transport and our specificities in relation to our geographical location and the island character of our countries.
Given the importance of both the Fit for 55 and the air transport provisions and the issue of the Trans-European Transport Network, Karousos is travelling to Athens next week to meet with his Greek counterpart Konstantinos Karamanlis, the statement concludes.
Source: Cyprus News Agency