The SESAR programme is about to be reconfirmed by the European Union, with financing to extend the operational period for the financial years 2014 - 2020. How did you arrive at this agreement?

Parliament is getting ready to give the go ahead to the agreement reached with the Council on the so called Innovation Package; that is, the legislative package which includes those public -private and public - public partnerships financed through the new Horizon 2020 programme's budget for research. Among these, there is the renewal of the SESAR initiative in support of the Single European Sky project.
Being aware of the strategic importance of this initiative for the European Union, but in particular for our country, I asked and was accepted as speaker on this dossier for the European People's Party, both in the Commission on Transport and Tourism and the Commission on Industry, Research and Energy. It wasn't a simple negotiation, not so much because of the differences between the Parliament and the Council, who were both convinced of the importance of financing the proposed initiatives and in particular SESAR, which had showed how it could work without hitches during the course of the previous organisation period, but due to cuts in the overall budget of Horizon 2020 which risked a chain reaction of repercussions on all connected activities.
I believe, however, that the final result was on the whole satisfactory.

SESAR involves public and private individuals. Was this collaboration advantageous for our country?

From 2007 to today SESAR has produced important results, and these are now consolidating into concrete solutions for the aviation industry, which has been supplied with innovative instruments in all fields in which it is involved. SESAR has therefore demonstrated that the framework of the PPP can work provided it is managed and run with foresight and commitment: the industry's involvement through active participation is certainly the reason for the success so far obtained. As far as our country is concerned, it has represented and still represents an enormous opportunity, precisely for the fact that important individuals, who already represent positions of excellence in our system, such as ENAV, can give their own contribution to the development of shared technologies, thus multiplying their own potential. Every member State already has its own organisms, its own bodies and its own rules, which, although not in all cases, benefit from the necessary attention of the public administration. We're dealing with an expensive and complicated system that needs to be corrected through greater coordination and which is at the same time efficient and effective. In order to be able to respond to this need we must continue to aim for the Single European Sky and therefore for SESAR.

The deployment phase of the results obtained from SESAR is now beginning. What are the main opportunities and the main risks which this phase presents?

The deployment phase which now begins is a delicate phase for the whole initiative. It means applying the results and verifying the positive consequences which we expect, and this is an indispensable step for the realisation of a Single European Sky, which must come about through careful organisation and precision. The transfer from the research and development phase to the following one is in fact always delicate, both from the technical point of view and, let's not forget, the political one. We need to make sure that the regulation framework is not an obstacle, but on the contrary, guarantees the instruments necessary for everything to be put into place in the simplest way possible; for example to favour the circulation of common standards which conform to those requested by SESAR.
It is necessary, for example, to consider  synchronising the deployment of technical equipment both on the vehicle and on the ground.
Needless to say, in this case too, there must be strict collaboration between public and private individuals, as in fact has been happening up to now. When implementation begins to show tangible results, advantages which are already quite clear to those who are involved in this project, both from the technical and managerial point of view as well as well as the regulatory viewpoint, then at this point also the general public will be able to fully appreciate the benefits.