Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-22-Speech-3-365"
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"en.20090422.55.3-365"2
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Mr President, Mr Tajani, ladies and gentlemen, the two principles that have guided my work since the start of this process have been ensuring that all modes of transport are on a more equal footing with regard to passengers’ rights – which is an objective that the Commission and the European Parliament have set themselves – and ensuring that these rights are clearly enshrined in this text. In the latter instance, special attention was paid to people with restricted mobility, since the maritime transport sector was in fact lagging behind somewhat where these people were concerned.
Moving on now to cruises, and their place in this text: I would remind you that cruises are an extremely important type of holiday today, and that their target group includes both elderly people and disabled people. This is why cruises are, of course, integrated into this text, not only with reference to the Package Travel Directive on which the text depends and which is a 1991 directive, but also with an assurance that consumers will receive the same level of treatment.
The definition of
which represents grounds for a possible refusal of transport – is put forward, and, on this issue, we have worked on a consensus amendment, which we have produced jointly. I would however remind you that in the aviation sector, today, the Court of Justice has often been obliged to take decisions due to cases of
not being defined well enough. Thus in this text we have tried to address problems linked to maritime transport. I am referring to tides, winds and storms, which are also par for the course with maritime transport and which had to be considered.
To conclude, the responsibility of ports to provide assistance has also been the subject of debate. This is a text on passengers’ rights; it is not a text …
... and so, with arbitration between the ports and the carriers having been carried out, this is the sum of the text. I know that Mr Jarzembowski is going to table his amendments, so I shall reply in the two minutes that I have left.
The general spirit of the text is that people should be able to travel in Europe without being subjected to the whims of the companies concerned, and should be able to demand a minimum level of service and a minimum level of information and, lastly, that persons with restricted mobility should be able to benefit from the same quality of rights as other European citizens without their being penalised twice over.
The content of the version adopted in committee on 31 March would appear to be acceptable to everyone. This is, firstly, because the rights of persons with restricted mobility are being increased. Should this text be adopted, it will no longer be possible to refuse persons transport on the grounds of their disability, except, of course, for reasons linked to boarding conditions, to respect for their dignity and to the technical elements of the vessel. Furthermore, assistance must also be provided for persons with restricted mobility, and this, from the time of booking; today, thanks to the Internet, there is a need for return journeys and official information. This has therefore been dealt with in the text.
Lastly, information on passengers’ rights must be standardised and provided in accessible formats, as happens today in the rail and the aviation sectors.
When it came to the rights of all passengers, we felt it was important for compensation in case of problems also to be harmonised at a higher level, on the basis of what is being done in the aviation sector. As a result, passengers subject to delays and cancellations will be able to receive as much as a full refund, with a scale of refunds calculated according to the problems encountered.
Information should be clear and accessible, which is often a problem in the transport sector. We see it all the time: people not having enough information, not knowing why the boat – in this case, but it could just as well be the train or plane – is not departing, or why there are delays, and we wanted to improve these methods of information provision.
Lastly, complaints management must be better organised. Indeed, making a complaint when problems arise is a complicated business, and this text is designed to simplify the procedure, both at Member State level and for individual citizens.
The role of the national bodies that will manage complaints has also been addressed, and it has been defined better.
Finally, urban and suburban transport services – I refer in this regard to Mr Albertini’s beloved vaporettos in Italy, in Venice – shall be excluded from this text, since they do not fall within the scope of major transport services."@en1
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