Decision on civil aviation will help end Gibraltar's isolation - Watson

12.11.51pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 13th Oct 2006

Measures put forward by Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament to establish a common set of rules on civil aviation security were yesterday backed by EU Member States in the Council of Ministers - a move welcomed by Graham Watson Liberal Democrat MEP for the South West and Gibraltar.

Yesterday's decision by the Council of Ministers agreed upon a text debated by MEPs in June calling for "one stop security" for all flights within the EU. In practice this means that security controls in one member state will be valid in all member states and that planes arriving from third countries will only undergo security controls at their first EU stop. For the first time, the regulation will also apply common EU aviation legislation to Gibraltar's airport.

Commenting on the decision, Graham Watson MEP said:

"I welcome yesterday's decision by EU member states to back my group's proposal on civil aviation. I believe that this new approach will be repeated in future transport legislation and I hope that this will help end Gibraltar's isolation on European legislation."

Note to Editors

The decision on civil aviation is one of co-decision - between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

In the next few months, the European Parliament will have the opportunity to debate the finer points of the text in its second reading.