Both ENAV and MATS are members of CANSO and are observing a number of changes at international level for ATM.  Which are in your opinion the initiatives which deserve specific focus?

In its document Vision 2020, CANSO advocates cooperation with government and regulatory institutions and collaboration between industry stakeholders as key to successful industry transformation.
One area that deserves specific focus is better ANS regulation and this holds particularly true in the European region.  Apart from keeping it distinctly separate from service provision, ANS regulation must be proportionate, consistent and fit for purpose.
Coordinated impact assessments should precede new regulatory proposals.Another area worthy of focus is service priority.  Increased surveillance capability and advanced decision-making tools such as conflict detection and resolution, are facilitating the handling of more traffic by controllers and improved situational awareness by pilots. 
If the efforts undertaken by airspace users to improve safety and efficiency do not produce the expected return from investments, operators will be reluctant to invest more in new technology.  
In this context, one has to examine if the first - come - first - served concept applied by ANS providers may have to be reviewed.

ENAV and MATS are partners in the Mediterranean area, which is experiencing some political turbulence.  How do you see the development of the civil aviation in this area?

Unfortunately, despite the so called Arab Spring that we have recently experienced, political and social stability in some States on the southern littoral of the Mediterranean is still an elusive objective. 
I believe, however, that the on-going unrest in such countries will not stop their peoples march towards political changes through which the entire Mediterranean stands to benefit.
From an aviation industry perspective, statistics show that the average annual growth in air traffic from Europe to North Africa and vice-versa will be amongst the highest in the next 20 years. 
Building on the good relations that already exist with countries like Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, this should spur ENAV and MATS to engage more meaningfully with them, keeping in mind that they are important interfaces for  Europe. 
In line with EUROCONTROL's aim of enhancing cooperation with North Africa, such engagement should be characterised by more harmonisation in aviation safety, performance and training. Ultimately, such engagement will be supplemented by reciprocal operational and financial gains. 

The Blue Med FAB is established and under the SES2 FABs will be strongly relying on ANSP partnership.  Which are the areas that will benefit first from the improved industrial partnership?

It can be safely stated that the legal obligation to create FABs has generated an impetus for cooperation between Member States, thus enabling performance improvements beyond those that any State could achieve individually.
This cooperation can develop into an industrial partnership amongst ANSPs the foundations of which are shared vision and commitment to work and cooperate with the industry stakeholders, including the military as well as staff associations.
Besides the implementation of direct routes and the development of free route airspace in the Blue Med FAB, there are other areas than can benefit from such partnership. These include the rationalisation of training institutions and joint plans for common procurement that would not only benefit from economies of scale but also facilitate the FAB's convergence towards the objectives of SES. Working in partnership would also enable ANSPs to tap funds that the EC specifically allocates for the development of the transport sector particularly aviation.
Lastly, Blue Med cannot just look north and west.  It is essential for Members States to look south and east beyond their borders. The initial joint, and sometimes demanding, efforts required of such an initiative would open up our horizons and would serve to narrow the gap in regulation and the harmonisation of airspace management.