AeroPolitics
Spitoon
Good post and spot on perspective.
When it comes to politics and politicians - in which I tend to include the Commission - they are not interested in ATC, unless there is an incident, nor do they care about controllers pay. Remember that the gravy train makes regular stops at Brussels! Pots and Kettles come to mind!
What the Commission do seem to care about is making sure that Europe compares reasonably favourably with the US. Which goes back to the political objectives of Single Sky and the desire to halve unit costs for each flight. These are real concerns and real objectives. And yes of course the system needs to continue to be safe or safer.
At the end of the day, costs will come down and controller pay will find a market level, with some going countries up and some reducing.
As to the FABs, as I said before they are most likely to fail because they don't adequately reflect the operating environment. But the EU will want to see some success, what is not yet clear is how that will be achieved.
Katie