New entrants used to find their way into electricity markets via the wholesale markets because balancing markets were more mechanisms than markets that were reserved for the happy few. Today, there are many new entrants that start as balancing service providers. The new entrants that are knocking on the door of electricity markets are also evolving from utility-scale renewables and industrial demand to asset-light software companies aggregating smaller resources, to larger companies supplying smart home systems, and energy communities. With every wave of new entrants, we need to reconsider the market rules because well-intended rules designed for certain types of market participants can (unintentionally) become obstacles for new entrants.

In this online event, we will discuss how different waves of new entrants in electricity markets require us to reconsider market rules; well-intended market rules for certain types of actors can unintentionally become obstacles for others.

Watch the recording:

Academic discussants: 

Ksenia Poplavskaya (Austrian Institute of Technology/ TU Delft)

Lynne Kiesling (Carnegie Mellon University)

Michael Pollitt (University of Cambridge – Judge Business School)

FSR researcher:

Tim Schittekatte

Host:

Leonardo Meeus

Did you know…?

The work presented during this event will be submitted as an academic paper to the special issue of Energies on “Innovation, Policy, and Regulation in Electricity Markets” (guest editors: prof. Michael Pollitt, prof. Lynn Kiesling and prof. Leonardo Meeus). Submissions are encouraged, and the deadline for the manuscript submissions is the 30 of April, 2021.

#FSRinsights

The series focuses on the insights from the FSR research.  These online events will give the FSR researchers the chance to share our research findings and to collect feedback on ongoing research by engaging with the audience and invited experts.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about our upcoming events.

FSR talk with ACER

On February 10, 2021 Riccardo Galletta and Juan Lopez of ACER will join Ilaria Conti and Jean-Michel Glachant of the FSR to discuss the issue of regulating hydrogen networks in the EU.

Publication of the EU Commission’s Hydrogen Strategy on 8 July 2020 marked a fundamental step and provided a clear direction for the evolution of the EU energy system, particularly for the decarbonisation of the gas sector. As part of these efforts, The Council of the EU indicated that as much as 30-70% of all gas used in the EU could be greened by 2050.

Reaching the ambitious energy and climate targets the EU is committed to will require a swift and comprehensive overhaul of the European energy system, including in the use of gas infrastructure.

The transition from fossil gas to renewable gases over the coming years is foreseen to be gradual, both in terms of the speed in which fossil gases are phased out in absolute terms, as well as changes in the chemical make-up of the gas consumed in the meantime. Transporting a combination of blended and pure gases raises questions about the suitability of existing gas transportation infrastructure as well as the issue of harmonising regulations between the Member States.

Currently, network infrastructure for the transport of pure hydrogen is not covered by the Gas Directive 2009/73/EC, whilst hydrogen infrastructure and markets at the national level are also relatively undeveloped by comparison to electricity and gas networks.

The debate will revolve around the recently published joint ACER-CEER White Paper on the regulation of hydrogen markets, prepared to assist the European Commission in assessing options for a legislative package on hydrogen and energy system integration. Juan Lopez will also present the findings of a recent ACER survey of national regulatory authorities (NRA’s) concerning the technical ability of the gas transportation system to accept blended gasses.

Topics for discussion will include:

• The circumstances under which regulating hydrogen networks is needed;
• How to treat existing hydrogen network infrastructure;
• How to address regulatory challenges related to the repurposing of gas infrastructure for dedicated hydrogen transport;
• Current limits for the blending of hydrogen into the gas flow in gas transmission networks and at cross-border interconnection points;
• Foreseen national hydrogen blending targets and hydrogen strategies, if any;
• Views on the need to have a European-wide, regional or national approach to H2 blending limits and projects.

Speakers:

Riccardo Galletta & Juan Lopez of ACER

Discussant:

Jean-Michel Glachant and Ilaria Conti of FSR Energy and Climate

Participants will have a chance to intervene directly in our online Q&A.

Access is completely free, upon registration.

Find more from ACER

How can hydrogen support the European Green Deal?

#FSRTalks 

FSR talks is a series of live interviews with experts from the wider network of the school to showcase and discuss a recent work (a book just published, interesting study, innovative project) in a light and interactive way.

Railway transport is the backbone of sustainable mobility. The modal share of passengers transported by rail in the EU Member States reached 6.9% in 2018. According to the recently released ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’, high-speed rail traffic should triple by 2050. To make this happen TEN-T corridors need to be completed by 2030. More cross-border projects will be needed to integrate all Member States into the European rail system of the future, in turn establishing smooth interconnections for cross-border rail travel across Europe. To speed up the process, the European Commission will propose in 2021 an action plan to boost long-distance and cross-border passenger rail services.

The year 2020 has shown that the railway system is not only sustainable and safe, but also very resilient. The post-Covid-19 period is a unique opportunity for railway undertakings to tap the unused potential and develop more rail passenger services, especially in cross-border contexts. In the new post-Covid-19 world, night trains could increasingly compete with short haul flights and stimulate European tourism, making the increasing supply of international rail passenger services vital for the success of the European Green Deal and for completing the Single European Railway Area. Recently significant steps have been made in that direction: four big European rail companies are giving night trains a boost. Despite of these latter improvements the degree of competition in the railway sector remains fairly low.

The 4th Railway Package was set to complete the market opening process by reducing competitive imbalances and harmonising regulations among the national-rail systems. The main aim is to give all players equal access to national markets; to encourage competition and innovation; and to boost safety, interoperability, and reliability across the region. There have been occasional attempts in the past at national level and the full market opening as of 14 December 2020 opens to considerable changes for the development of the European Railway Area.

Opening of the EU long-distance passenger-rail market will have significant impact for both operators and investors, potentially benefiting the entire rail industry. It could mean more international city to city connections, more frequent path usage and cross-border services, including night train services. However, to make these processes run smoothly, there is still room for enhancement.

The harmonised EU-wide vehicle approval, which would result in reduction of costs for cross-border trains, has just started. Fair track access charges for the new entrant operators must be guaranteed to allow a competitive framework. Another bottleneck is the rolling stock. Liaison of standard trains to minimise investments and fair access to the state guarantees and financial opportunities for all operators, is how it should work in theory, but the question remains: if it will be manageable in practice. Passengers’ awareness about their rights should be improved, and non-discriminatory provision of travel information should be ensured, including through-ticket offers.

Against this backdrop, the 21^st Florence Rail Forum, co-hosted by the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation and the Commission’s DG MOVE, will provide a well-timed platform for discussion on the possible development of international passenger corridors, likewise international rail freight corridors. These corridors would support the development of long-distance and cross-border rail passenger services. Stakeholders representing rail infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, national regulatory and governmental bodies, among others, will have an opportunity to discuss issues central to the future of international passenger rail travels.

In particular, participants will be invited to critically discuss the capacity of corridors, harmonisation of standards for track access charges, as well as ticketing system. 

Please kindly note that this event is by invitation only.

SPEAKERS’ PRESENTATIONS:

Setting the scene: Market opening and International Passenger Corridors (IPCs)

Matthias Finger | Florence School of Regulation, Transport Area

Maurizio Castelletti | European Commission, DG MOVE

Session A – Can we create efficient capacity for the development of long-distance and cross-border passenger rail services over IPCs?

Alberto Mazzola | CER

Justus Hartkamp| ProRail

Robér Bormann  | Swiss Federal Railways  and Erwin Kastberger | Austrian Federal Railways

Session B – How to harmonise track access charges along the IPCs?

Oliver Sellnick | DB Netz AG

Germano Guglielmi | Ferrovie dello Stato

Session C – Can we make progress in digital platforms for on-line search and ticket purchase, including through ticketing?

Gerhard Wennerström | Samtrafiken

Eric Mink | Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management

In 2000, Germany introduced the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) to encourage the generation of renewable electricity, initially via a feed-in tariff scheme. Over the course of the past two decades, various editions of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), have played a central role in the development of renewables, especially the growth of onshore wind and solar PV. The latest reformed version of the act came into effect on 1 January 2021, and contains important economic and legal innovations. In this webinar, we will critically examine these new terms, consider the implications of these amendments, and consider if the reform of the EU state aid guidelines alongside the new EEG may impact the development of state aid for RES in Europe. In the past, many Member State have taken their lead from Germany when it comes to supporting RES. Will Member States still be keen to follow Germany’s example with the EEG 2021?

We will welcome your questions throughout the session, and look forward to what we hope will be a lively debate. To join the session, please register through the form above.

Interested in more on this topic?

Take a look at our podcast on an important state aid ruling with respect to the EEG 2012, which you can listen to here.

Programme

Introduction | Leigh Hancher, FSR

EEG 2021: Review and Outlook | Christoph Riechmann, Frontier Economics

The Legal Dimension | Konrad Riemer and Ulrich Scholz, Freshfields

The DG Comp View | Matt Wieckowski and Alexandra Saller, DG Comp

Roundtable Discussion

Q&A with the live audience

Concluding Remarks | Leigh Hancher, FSR

This workshop on major governance challenges triggered by the current digital transformation is co-organized by the Florence School of Regulation and the Dauphine-PSL ‘Governance & Regulation Chair’.

We are witnessing the development and integration of a set of technologies that tend to radically transform the capabilities to process and circulate information, and therefore to coordinate. Indeed, these technologies now enable a seamless and ubiquitous access to information, a just-in-time and adaptive processing of this information at low cost, and an algorithmic way of guaranteeing compliance with rules. This represents a high potential for designing and implementing more agile and customized modes of coordination — thanks to the combination of horizontal information sharing, low cost contracting and decentralized enforcement—and of more responsive modes of governance; based on agile and pervasive digital capabilities enabling to quickly adapt to new information. It also supports more decentralized and organic mechanisms of governance, which might replace more hierarchical one since digital systems can support self-governed collective actions and the decentralized matching of available resources with individual needs.

As a result, several traditional mechanisms of coordination are challenged. Hierarchical organizations, for instance, are questioned by horizontal, peer-based, forms of organizations that allow rapid adaptation to incremental evolutions of needs, and resilience when shocks occur. The role of the government might of course also be questioned in this overall framework.

Bringing together a group of prominent academics and practitioners from the public and private sectors, whose research or action explore the links between digital transformation and the reshuffling of governance mechanisms, this workshop aims at enabling us to deepen our understanding of their close interactions.

Sessions

Six main topics will be covered during six online sessions, to be organised each Friday from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. CET, from January 15th to February 19th:

Session 1

The opportunities and challenges raised by digital technologies for the economy and for society (January 15th)

Jean-Michel Glachant | Florence School of Regulation/RSCAS/EUI

Eric Brousseau | Scientific director, Governance and Regulation Chair and Club of Regulators

Robert Madelin | Chairman of FIPRA International

Margareta Chesaru | Public Affairs Manager, UiPath

Huy Nguyen Trieu | Co-Founder CFTE

Agustín Reyna | Director, Legal and Economic  Affairs

Rolf Riemenschneider | Head of Sector “Internet of Things”, DG Connect, European Commission

William E. Kovacic | Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy at George Washington University Law School

Session 2

The transformation of political governance and public institutions (January 22nd),

Maria Petrova | ICREA Research Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Thierry Vedel , CEVIPOF-Sciences Po

Antonio Nicita | Professor of economic policy at Rome Lumsa University

Pierre Pezziardi | Entrepreneur, author, cofounder of beta.gouv.fr

Alexis Tsoukias | Scientific director, CNRS

Andrea Renda | Head of Global Governance, Regulation, Innovation and the Digital Economy (GRID) at CEPS

Sjef van Erp | Professor emeritus of European private law at Maastricht University

Session 3

The impact of digital technologies on social and civic life (January 29th)

Jean-Samuel Beuscart | Orange Labs

Doaa Abu Elyounes | Harvard University

Jamal Atif | Paris Dauphine-PSL University

Bertin Martens  | Joint Research Centre (Seville) of the European Commission

Serge Abiteboul | Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et de la Poste

(Arcep)

Miguel Amaral | The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Bertrand Pailhès | Head of Technology and Innovation, CNIL

Session 4

The regulation of the digital industry (February 5th)

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger| Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

Anne Yvrande-Billon| Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes (ARCEP)

Leigh Hancher | University of Tilburg & Florence School of Regulation / Robert Schuman

Centre for Advanced Studies / European University Institute

Denis Berthault | GFii – Groupement Français de l’Industrie de l’Information

Werner Stengg | European Commission

Martin Cave | Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem)

Martin Peitz| University of Mannheim & Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (MaCCI)

Session 5

The challenges for sovereignty, security, rights, and the rule of law (February 12th)

Jan Aart Scholte| Leiden University & University of Duisburg-Essen

Joëlle Toledano | Paris Dauphine University

João Ricardo Vasconcelos| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Benjamin Revcolevschi | Fujitsu France

Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye | Imperial College London

Mike Bracken | Public Digital UK

Frank Bannister  | Trinity College Dublin

Session 6

Global governance and international relations (February 19th)

Howard Shelanski | Georgetown University

Winston Maxwell | Télécom Paris – Institut Polytechnique de Paris

Meryem Marzouki | French National Scientific Research Center (CNRS)

Didier Navez | Dawex

Mérouane Debbah  | Huawei R&D France

Henri Verdier | French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Paul Seabright | Toulouse School of Economics

Learning objectives

The objective of this workshop is threefold:

• to explore how the pillars of a European approach in this area could be developed;
• to identify the levers of a research and action program to build this approach;
• to initiate a partnership to manage a work program.

The expected outcome of this workshop will combine the production of a “white paper” aimed at framing the debate, and the elaboration of a “work program” to be carried out in the framework of an initiative to be hosted by the European University Institute and a set of partners both within and beyond the academia.

Please note: this workshop is a closed event. You may find more information here.

In collaboration with:

In April 2020, the Florence School of Regulation held two workshops on renewable hydrogen and low-carbon hydrogen technologies. Since then, there has been a lot of significant developments that will try to address in this debate.

Watch the recording

Background

In December 2020, the European Council has endorsed a binding EU target of 55% in GHG emissions reduction by 2030 compared to 1990 to be achieved collectively in the most cost-effective manner possible.

The Council of the European Union has adopted Council Conclusions “Towards a hydrogen market for Europe”. The Council endorses the approach proposed by the European Commission in its Communication “Hydrogen Strategy for a climate-neutral Europe” and calls for more detailed pathways on how to get to the announced objectives of having 6GW of electrolysers by 2024 and 40GW by 2030. With a strong focus on renewable hydrogen, the Conclusions also mention transitional support of low carbon hydrogen produced from natural gas.

The Strategic Forum for Important Projects of Common European Interest has selected “Hydrogen Technologies and Systems” as one of the strategic value chains, which are essential to enhance the future competitiveness and sustainability of the EU.

The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, uniting broad range of European stakeholders , has started its activities.

The new proposal of TEN-E Regulation recognises the support o the investments in hydrogen networks and power-to-gas facilities.

It is clear now that hydrogen together with renewable electricity and energy efficiency measures are key enablers towards carbon neutrality of the EU by 2050. Also, there is a political will to deploy hydrogen in the most cost-effective way using the strength of the EU internal market. Still, there are substantial challenges in the front of broad hydrogen deployment. There isn’t a market even in a most rudimentary form, important sustainability issues need to be resolved (Guarantees of Origin, additionality), but most importantly renewable and low carbon prices are relatively high compared with fossil fuel sources.

Are renewable and low carbon hydrogen technologies ready for accelerated deployment?

Has clean hydrogen technology development followed fast political development? Are there substantial barriers? What market design elements are needed to accelerate technological progress? These are the questions we will address during our policy debate.

Draft Programme

Moderators: Christopher Jones and Andris Piebalgs

11.00 – 11.10 Introduction to the debate

Christopher Jones | Florence School of Regulation

11.10 – 12.10 Panel debate

                      Barbara Jinks | IRENA

                      Kees van der Leun | Guidehouse

                      Jorgo Chatzimarkakis | Hydrogen Europe (TBC)

                      Ronnie Belmans | Energyville

12.10 – 12.25 Q&A

12.25 – 12.30 Concluding remarks

Andris Piebalgs | Florence School of Regulation

#FSRDebates on Policy

Starting from January 2020, our debate series will have a monthly episode on policy issues, hosted by Christopher Jones and Andris Piebalgs.

Reaching the ambitious energy and climate targets to which the European Union (EU) is committing requires harnessing all the opportunities associated with hydrogen, for which a strategic approach is needed. In this context, in its Hydrogen Strategy, the European Commission launched a plan to reach 80 GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030, half of which within the EU and the other half in Europe’s neighbourhood, with the export of green hydrogen to the EU.

The envisaged massive increase in electrolyser capacity in the EU calls for clarity on the regulatory approach to these installations and, more generally, to power-to-gas facilities.

Watch the recording:

In this Debate, we intend to identify the best regulatory approach to power-to-gas facilities, and the potential use of regulatory sandboxes for this purpose.

In particular, we will assess whether:

• power-to-gas facilities should be considered as performing a monopoly activity, which would justify them being owned and run by Transmission System Operators (TSOs) or Distribution System Operators (DSOs);
• power-to-gas facilities should instead be considered as performing a competitive activity. In which case, under the existing unbundling provisions, TSOs and DSOs would be prevented from owning and/or operating them;
• a “hybrid” approach should be considered, in which the role of TSOs and DSOs would be tailored to the stage of market development of power-to-gas activities;
• different approaches should be tested in parallel using regulatory sandboxes.

Programme

14.00 – 14.05: Introduction to the Debate

Leigh Hancher | Florence School of Regulation and Tilburg University

14.o5 – 14.15: Regulatory Sandboxes

Tim Schittekatte | Florence School of Regulation

14.15 – 14.25: The possible regulatory approaches to power-to-gas facilities

Alberto Pototschnig | Florence School of Regulation

PANEL DISCUSSION

Moderator: Leigh Hancher | Florence School of Regulation and Tilburg University

14.25 – 14.50: Introductory remarks

• Benedikt Klauser | DG ENER
• Francesco Cariello| ARERA
• Dennis Hesseling | ACER
• Gerald Kaendler | ENTSOE
• Jan Ingwersen |ENTSOG

14.50-14.55: Live Polls for the audience

14.55 – 15.20: Comments on the outcome of the polls and Q&A from the audience

15.20 – 15.30: Concluding remarks

Leigh Hancher | Florence School of Regulation and Tilburg University

Alberto Pototschnig | Florence School of Regulation

#FSRDebates

The focus of the debate series is on recent court cases, regulatory decisions, EU legislation, or public consultations to be discussed by a panel of experts. Learn more about the FSR series.

FSR Talk with Prof. Nicolas Petit, EUI

We all see that Big Tech companies and platforms – notably the American Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, etc – have built powerful positions from which they never stop expanding. Netflix is another blatant demonstration. It begs the questions:

• Will Education, Health, even Public Government routine (as car registration & monitoring for road conduct enforcement) follow the same way to ‘’Moligopoly’’?
• Is this consequential for the rest of the economy and society? And why?
• What could be done to get it better or safer?

Watch the recording

Digitalization is transforming the energy sector by improving the efficiency in the planning, operation, and maintenance of the physical infrastructure, while opening the door to new forms of interactions and products in the energy field. The aggregation of distributed energy resources, the smart management of energy appliances and the trade of energy peer-to-peer are among the many opportunities that the digitalisation of energy supports.

Read the event highlights

 Watch the recording:

However, for digitalization to have its full impact and support a vibrant and competitive industry, data interoperability is key. Easy access to data and seamless sharing of information by different actors and applications is a necessary prerequisite for digitalisation to support the delivery of a low-carbon energy system with the consumers at its centre.

Energy is not the only sector being transformed by digitalization. Other industries are equally being disrupted. In this online event, we will discuss with academics active in the telecom and healthcare sector:

• why policymakers and regulators are well-advised to look beyond the boundaries of the energy sector.
• what we can learn from the experiences with digitalisation in telecom and with interoperability in healthcare.
• how we can successfully deliver on the promise of a digitalised citizen-centred energy sector.

Host

• Leonardo Meeus (FSR)

Speakers

• Nicolò Rossetto (FSR)
• Valerie Reif (FSR)

Discussants

• Volker Stocker (TU Berlin)
• Angelina Kouroubali (ICS-FORTH)

#FSRInsights

The series focuses on the insights from the FSR research.  These online events will give the FSR researchers the chance to share our research findings and to collect feedback on ongoing research by engaging with the audience and invited experts.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about our upcoming events.

We acknowledge the financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project INTERRFACE (grant agreement No 824330).

>> Watch the Webinar Recording here <<

Liberalisation of Passenger Train Services in India – Regulatory Challenges. Webinar on 22 January 2021

Inspired by the recently published “Handbook on Railway Regulation. Concepts and Practice” by Edward Elgar, this webinar, jointly organised by the Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management and FSR-Transport, will provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in railway regulation in India.

Despite numerous liberalisation attempts in recent years, the railway sector is still excessively complex, with regulations varying throughout the world. The Handbook on Railway Regulation gathers, for the first time, these various approaches and practices, using a historical and systematic approach to identify the main lessons for all countries. Specific topics covered include the digitalisation dilemma in the industry, rail sector reforms and regulation, and competition in the market for rail freight and passenger services.

This Handbook provides an invaluable contribution to the discussion of railway regulation worldwide, and will be a crucial compendium for students and scholars of transportation, regulation and competition looking to explore different approaches to the topic. This will also be an invaluable read for railway policymakers and regulators looking to deepen their understanding of contemporary regulations around the world.

Among others, speakers will focus on the regulatory aspects pertaining to railway market opening, they will draw on lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic on rail operations, and not the least they will shed light on the challenges that they face in meeting the sector’s needs of today and tomorrow.

AGENDA

10:30 – 10:35 | Welcome, Introduction of speakers

• Dr. Kamal Kishore Sharma, Professor, Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management

10:35-10:50 | Introduction of the Handbook on Railway Regulation

• Prof. Matthias Finger, Director of FSR-Transport, EUI; Co-editor of the Handbook on Railway Regulation

10:50 – 11:05 | Introduction of the Chapter ” Railways in India: challenges and opportunities”: structure of IR, past attempts of liberalisation, future outlook

• Dr. Rachna Gangwar, PhD, Faculty, Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management, Author of the chapter

11:05-11:50 | Three presentations

• Prof. G Raghuram,  Principal Academic Advisor at National Rail & Transportation Institute and Former Director, IIM Bangalore
• Prof. Sanjiv Garg,  Managing Director at Pipavav Railway Corporation Limited & Vice Chairman, Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport
• Prof. Juan Montero, Professor at EUI/ UNED, Co-editor of the Handbook on Railway Regulation

11:50 – 12:00 | Q&A Session moderated by Dr. Kamal Kishore Sharma, Professor, Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management 

12:00 | Webinar ends

Slides could be downloaded here.

European aviation has been confronted with serious capacity challenges and high levels of delay, in particular, during the two years (2018-2019) leading up to the onset of COVID-19. The pandemic has, subsequently, revealed that the European airspace system lacks resilience and the ability to absorb demand shocks, be these in the form of increases or drops in air traffic. Despite the economic hardship sustained by the entire aviation ecosystem, it has become clear that the European Commission’s level of climate ambition remains unchanged. In fact, the recovery phase has been framed as an opportunity to accelerate the shift towards a more sustainable, smarter and resilient mobility system. The European Green Deal identifies the Single European Sky (SES) as one of the key measures to “help achieve significant reductions in aviation emissions”. To ensure the sustainable development of the sector, the SES reform will stimulate a more flexible and scalable provision of air navigation services.

There is firm agreement within the aviation sector, that air traffic management (ATM) in Europe needs to be reformed to cope with both the sustained air traffic growth over the last decade and with significant, unforeseen traffic variations, such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This, in turn, calls for regulatory changes that promote a safe, cost- and flight-efficient European ATM system that will support the measures outlined in the European Green Deal and reduce aviation emissions. Once the pandemic is contained, it will be even more crucial to increase resilience, scalability and sustainability in the management of manned and unmanned air traffic.

In view of this, in September 2020, the European Commission proposed an upgrade of the SES regulatory framework, in order to modernise the management of European airspace and to establish more sustainable and efficient flightpaths. The amended proposal calls for the strengthening of the European network and its management to avoid congestion and suboptimal flight routes, the creation of an EU market for agile ATM data services provision and incentives, the streamlining of economic regulation for ATM, and for an enhanced coordination for the definition, development and deployment of innovative solutions, among others.

Building upon the conclusions of the 12^th Florence Air Forum on ‘How to make progress towards an Economic Regulator?’, the 15^th Florence Air Forum, jointly hosted by the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation and the European Commission’s DG MOVE, will provide a platform for in-depth discussion on some of the central elements of the proposed SES regulatory framework pertaining to the streamlining of economic regulation for ATM.

More specifically, the Forum will bring together key aviation actors to explore 1) the administrative integration of the Performance Review Body into EASA and the implications for the new distribution of tasks in relation to national economic regulators; 2) the distribution of tasks between the European regulator and the national supervisory authorities; and not the least 3) the legal, technical and practical considerations surrounding the proposed modulation of air navigation charges on the basis of the environmental footprint of the airspace user. While the negotiations between the EU Member States and the European Parliament on the SES proposal basic act is still ongoing, the discussions at the 15th Florence Air Forum will already address some of the more detailed and technical provisions, which also seek to inform the subsequent implementing and delegated acts.

SPEAKERS’ SLIDES:

Setting the scene and overview of main issues to be addressed:

Matthias Finger – Florence School of Regulation Transport Area

Session A: Institutionalising an independent European regulator: the administrative integration of the Performance Review Body (PRB) into EASA, and implications for the new distribution of tasks in relation to national economic regulators?

Regula Dettling-Ott – Performance Review Body

Partick Ky – European Union Aviation Safety Agency

Session B: What Should be the distribution of tasks between the PRB and the national supervisory authorities?

Walter Boltz – European Energy

Marek Bekier – Aviation Capacity Resources Sweden

Eduardo Abia – Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency

Session C: Modulation of charges: How can such or similar tools make a contribution to provide decarbonisation incentives without adding unnecessary complexity?

Andras Hujber – European Commission

Adriaan Heerbaart – EUROCONTROL