SLOVENIA TO FOLLOW EU LINE ON ETS

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000094 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2019 TAGS: EAIR ECON SI ETRD SENV EU SUBJECT: SLOVENIA TO FOLLOW EU LINE ON ETS REF: SECSTATE 1023 Classified By: CDA Brad Freden, reasons 1.4(b,d) (C) Emboffs met with Ministry of Transportation's Mirko Komac, Director General of Civil Aviation, and Jozef Slana, Coordinator of the International Legal Affairs, Standards and Regulations Division of Civil Aviation, on April 2 and delivered points in reftel on the U.S. concerns about the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS). Komac and Slana firmly stated that Slovenia will fully follow the European Commission's directives and positions on the ETS. They acknowledged that Slovenia does not have a high stake in the game because the only international carriers operating in Slovenia are Turkish Airlines and JAT (Serbian). Slana said he would prefer to see a global solution about emissions worked through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),but due to public opinion, Slovenia must follow EU guidelines. It is still unclear which Ministry has responsibility for implementing and enforcing EU ETS. Both Komac and Slana stated that their main concern is aviation security and safety, while environmental concerns take a distant second place. They added, however, that the Ministry of Transportation is more concerned with monitoring and reducing noise produced by aircraft than by emissions. Therefore, they would prefer that the Ministry of Environment (to whom they referred as "terrorists against business") assume responsibility for implementing EU ETS regulations. FREDEN