Minister Skuodis: “The EU has to ensure that forced landings of aircrafts do not occur in the future”
Today, at the initiative of Lithuania, the forced landing of an aircraft in Belarus on 23 May was discussed at the meeting of the European Union (EU) Transport, Telecommunications and Energy (TTE) Council in Luxembourg. At the meeting, Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis emphasised the swift reaction of the EU to the incident, but he noted that the European institutions and Member States have to take coordinated preventive measures to make sure that such incidents do not repeat in the future.
“Today, we find ourselves in an extraordinary situation. We also see exceptional solidarity and a swift reaction from the EU. I would like to express my gratitude for that – the Council of the European Union, the Commission, the Member States and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency have already taken the necessary steps to protect European citizens”, said Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania Marius Skuodis to the EU transport ministers.
The Minister highly praised the fact that significant number of Member States followed the Lithuanian decision to introduce flight restrictions on routes related to the airspace of the Republic of Belarus as well as to revoke traffic rights of the air carriers from this country.
The Minister noted that the international community also took action when the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council decided to start a comprehensive investigation regarding the above mentioned incident in Belarus. According to the Minister, the representatives of the EU countries in the Council of the EU and the European Commission have contributed to the making of this decision by ICAO.
“We are facing a new phenomenon in Europe which could be regarded as state-level piracy, as many countries emphasise. If we do not take long-term prohibitive action, it may spread and do much more harm to the security and reputation of the aviation sector”, noted Minister Skuodis, inviting the EU countries to continue coordinating further actions in an organised and coherent manner in relation to the fundamental violations of the air traffic security.
For this purpose, Lithuania encourages the EU countries to agree on coordinated actions for similar situations, it also calls for active participation in the investigation carried out by the ICAO and draws the attention of the European Commission to the necessity to carry out a separate risk assessment of such cases.
The Lithuanian Minister’s speech received general support from all members of the Council. The European Commission has presented its plan of actions and encouraged the countries to take swift actions and review their legal regulations to prevent such incidents.
In view of the unprecedented attack by Belarus on a civilian aircraft on 23 May, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania has banned flights to and from Lithuania through the territory of this country, and for Belarus air carriers to transit the Lithuanian airspace. Other EU countries have also promptly responded to such actions by Lithuania.
At an extraordinary meeting on 27 May, the ICAO Council decided to start an investigation in accordance with Article 55 of the Chicago Convention to examine the circumstances of the incident mentioned above. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a Safety Information Bulletin, advising airlines to avoid Belarus airspace unless it is necessary to ensure the safety of a flight in unforeseen circumstances.