News The 3rd meeting of the Joint ECAA Agreement Committee was held

On June 19, 2024, the third meeting of the Joint Committee of the Agreement on the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA Agreement) was held in Podgorica.

The signatories of this agreement took part in the meeting: the European Commission, representatives from EU member states and Western Balkan states. There were also participants from the aviation industry. The Republic of Kosovo was represented by representatives of the aeronautical authorities led by Acting Director of CAA, Mr. Burim Dinarama.

The European Commission has presented the continuous trend of traffic growth between the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans and has distributed for comments the draft Annex I of the ECAA Agreement which lists the new legislative requirements for adoption by the associated parties.

The plenary session of the Joint Committee was preceded by a meeting between the General Directors and Mr. Filip Cornelis, who holds the position of Director of Aviation in the Directorate for Mobility of the EC in which the associated parties have debated with the EC on their status against the Agreement, respectively, not to be treated as third countries, while Mr. Dinarama has also emphasized the non-equal treatment of Kosovo vis-à-vis other parties in terms of the rights derived from the Agreement.

On June 20, 2024, a bilateral meeting was held between the EC and the delegation of the Republic of Kosovo, in which case Mr. Dinarama has comprehensively presented the developments in the civil aviation sector in Kosovo, the level of implementation of the ECAA Agreement as well as the challenges that our country faces, mainly related to non-membership or the lack of relations with regional and international civil aviation organizations.

Confirmations have been received from both Mr. Cornelis and Mr. Gzim Ocakoglu of the EC/Directorate for Aviation Agreements, who led the plenary and bilateral meeting, that they will take into account all the challenges raised by Kosovo and that they will treat them with priority. Their readiness to support Kosovo with technical assistance was also confirmed.

Regarding the completion of Phase I, Kosovo has stated that the two remaining issues will be addressed soon through the amendment of the Civil Aviation Law as well as through the Labor Law, both of which are included in the Government’s Legislative Agenda 2024. However, the Republic of Kosovo has progressively continued the transposition of the legislative requirements from Phase II in all areas of aviation.

No Associate Party to the Agreement has been able to move to Phase II mainly because of the non-aeronautical legislative requirements that are part of Annex I.

The next meeting of the Committee will be held next year in North Macedonia.