Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-04-Speech-2-292"
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".
Mr President, I should like to say, first of all, that we are discussing two quite different initiatives here. One is of a legislative nature and concerns the creation of a European Aviation Safety Agency. The other initiative concerns Parliament’s report on the Commission communication on protecting the rights of air transport passengers.
On the other hand, we cannot accept some of the proposed amendments. I shall list them with their numbers and explain why. First of all, we do not feel that it is appropriate to include the revenue of the Agency and, therefore, its entire budget in the budget of the European Union. This decision would run counter to the flexibility of management that we would like this body to have. The Commission cannot, therefore, accept Amendments Nos 4 and 56.
Some amendments could cause a degree of confusion, could be difficult to implement or fall outside the scope of the proposal and must, therefore, be rejected. I am referring to Amendments Nos 3, 15, 17, 19, 28, 29, 54 and 65.
Nor can we accept Amendments Nos 5 and 62, which deal with the scope of the Regulation, as they stand, although, in this case and as a compromise, we can accept proposals being tabled in the year following the adoption of the Regulation, with regard to air operations and staff privileges.
With regard to the other areas, we cannot accept airports being definitively excluded. We can only accept proposals being tabled later on these matters.
With regard to the publication of the results of inspections by national administrations, set down in Amendments Nos 24 and 30, the Commission does not consider this to be appropriate because confidential information, which could be the basis of criminal proceedings, is involved. Such action nevertheless, does comply with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to the documents of the Community institutions.
I must also take a stand on the amendments dealing with the Agency’s independence, specifically, Nos 21, 32, 42, 43, 45, 53, 64, 70 and 71. We all want this to be an independent body when it acts on technical issues, but this does not mean that it can be free from any kind of political control. We would like to see the Agency independent of individuals, or of the various lobby groups that, as you would expect, exist in this sector and which are very active. We do not want to see the Agency independent of the Community institutions because, I repeat, there must inevitably be some form of political control. Therefore, the Commission cannot accept the suggestions that seek to reduce its powers of control over the Agency. Nevertheless, Amendment No 36, which reflects Parliament’s will not to participate in the Agency’s Administrative Board seems quite appropriate, if that is what Parliament wishes.
The work currently being undertaken in this House, as in the Council, proves that we are moving towards consensus on all aspects of this measure, with the exception of that of the influence of the Member States and the Community on control of the Agency. It is, therefore, important that the Commission has the support of Parliament on this matter.
I should like to congratulate your rapporteur once again and thank you for the excellent work you have carried out.
With regard to the Commission communication on protecting passenger rights, first of all, I should like to congratulate Mr Collins, on having produced a detailed and stimulating report, which I read with great interest. Having read the report, I have drawn the conclusion that Parliament and the Commission are, to a large extent, in agreement.
Both institutions attach high priority to the protection of passengers and we agree that this protection must be guaranteed by two approaches, which are not contradictory, but complementary. The first approach is the voluntary agreements signed by the airlines and the second is laws that must be complied with.
I wish to warmly congratulate both rapporteurs.
Lastly, I shall give a brief summary of the actions planned for the near future and which, as you shall see, fully address your concerns and your suggestions. Firstly, the monitoring of the voluntary commitments. We fully concur that these agreements must provide for a mechanism for ensuring compliance with them if we really want them to be effective and to work properly and, therefore, to have credibility in the eyes of travellers. Over the forthcoming months, we will be working conscientiously on these monitoring measures and on the out-of-court settlement of disputes. I have already held a meeting with the airlines, to whom I made it very clear that this is a key issue, and I think that we can reach solutions that are acceptable to everyone.
Furthermore, passengers need to be well informed at every step, from the time they plan their trip until the flight itself, as Mr Ojeda said just now. The airlines have given a serious commitment to provide better information, in line with their voluntary commitments. With regard to the consumer reports comparing the profits of the various airlines, we will soon be instituting an experiment to try out various methods then to review legislation in light of the experience we have gained. This is crucial.
Some passenger interests are so important that we must give them protection under the law. In practical terms, we intend to propose legislation to Parliament and the Council in two specific areas: denied boarding and flight cancellations. In relation to the first matter, we have drawn up a draft, which we are now fine-tuning, with the help of the comments of the various interested parties. The second matter concerns the contracts airlines have with their customers. At the end of this year we shall present a consultation document and, once we have received the reactions of those concerned, we will draft a proposal. In the document, we shall be paying close attention to the rights of the disabled, an issue that some of the honourable Members have also raised today. We also hope that Parliament and the Council will rapidly approve the regulation, so that the standards of the Montreal Convention on the responsibility of Community airlines can apply and so that these new standards may enter into force by the end of next year.
Lastly, I shall refer to something that various speakers have highlighted, most recently by Mrs McCarthy and which concerns us all: the problems of passenger health. We feel it is crucial to undertake a thorough and exhaustive assessment of the risks of travelling by aeroplane. We are, therefore, financing research into cabin conditions under the Fifth Framework Programme and we are looking into how we can better support the studies into deep-vein thrombosis started by the World Health Organisation. I must tell you that I have written personally to the chairmen of every airline to highlight this issue and to ask them, with the information now available, to immediately adopt measures to improve the situation.
In any event, although both initiatives will take a while, they will provide a solid basis for policy making and we shall keep this House fully informed.
To conclude, Mr President, I must say that I am delighted to see the degree of agreement between Parliament and the Commission. I must also tell you that on a flight with a certain airline, which was delayed by more than twenty minutes, we were informed that we had the right to a free flight with the same company for a period of one month, on the same route, just because there had been a delay of more than twenty minutes, in line with the conditions stated in their contract. I am telling you this because the concerns and the actions of both Parliament and the Commission are yielding tangible results for the public, for users and for consumers.
I shall begin with the initiative on the creation of the European Aviation Safety Agency. I should also like to congratulate Mr Schmitt, of course, on his work.
In proposing common regulations for the civil aviation sector and the creation of a European Aviation Safety Agency, the Commission has borne in mind the objective of achieving a high and uniform level of safety, which is an essential factor for air transport. It is also, perhaps the most fundamental passenger right. We want to achieve this high and uniform level of safety throughout the European Union and also greater environmental protection.
This system of common regulations will also have the effect of promoting the internal market and of improving the competitiveness of the European aeronautical industry. It is, of course, also an important factor for the
project. From now on, a single certificate will be sufficient for a company to be able to supply its products to the whole European market, whilst access to external markets will be simplified, as a result of the conclusion of agreements that will facilitate the harmonisation and the mutual recognition of the certificates.
The proposal under consideration today, therefore, represents a considerable step forwards, particularly if you take account of the objectives it is seeking to achieve. It also, however, represents a genuine innovation in the field of Community integration, if we bear in mind that, until now, the civil aviation sector has been greatly influenced by the sovereignty of Member States and by intergovernmental cooperation – an issue that the speakers have already raised. With regard to the implementation of Community objectives, the Commission is authorised to adopt the appropriate technical standards and administrative procedures.
The purpose of creating this specialised Agency is to assist the Commission in implementing policy but the Agency will also have its own powers, since, in some cases, it will replace national administrations in issuing products with certificates of conformity with Community legislation – I repeat, this is crucial for the
project, as Mr Jarzembowski said a moment ago – and, in other cases, will supervise the issuing of certificates by national administrations.
The parliamentary committees that have worked on this text have understood the importance of what is at stake and I thank them for their support for the Commission proposal.
With regard to the amendments that have been tabled, I can tell you that the Commission can accept most of them, because they improve and clarify our original proposal. In fact, many of them are very similar to the comments made by the Council itself and will, therefore, be adopted in the consolidated modified proposal, either in part or, in some cases, with minor stylistic changes. The Commission also unreservedly accepts strengthening the powers of the Executive Director, something to which the rapporteur referred in his speech, and the provisions on the Agency’s budgetary control."@en1
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