Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-07-Speech-3-250"
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"en.20091007.23.3-250"2
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Madam President, I am grateful to Mr Simpson and to the entire Committee on Transport and Tourism for bringing such a sensitive issue to the attention of Parliament. This question gives me an opportunity to reiterate formally what has been said in recent weeks following the hardships faced by many European citizens, by many passengers, as a result of the bankruptcy of certain airlines.
As this Parliament knows, the protection of passengers in all transport sectors is a genuine priority for me. I said it during the hearing, when Parliament gave me its vote of confidence, and I wish to repeat it this evening. I believe that we must all take action to come up with a specific legal solution, not least to prevent – as Mr Simpson said – passengers who have purchased an ordinary flight ticket from an airline that subsequently goes bankrupt being treated differently from passengers who have bought their ticket as part of a more comprehensive package holiday.
I therefore believe that the first thing to do is to use the resources that we already have at our disposal. In other words, the public must use all the regulations in the most effective way possible, even if they are incomplete and also lead to disparities. With the same aim of optimising the resources available to us, when the airline SkyEurope went bankrupt, for example, the network of European consumer protection centres was called in to advise consumers about their rights and to collect claims. However, we also need to offer better protection to passengers when an airline goes bankrupt. Passengers with bookings that subsequently lapse must be entitled to reimbursement and, in some cases, to repatriation. This is a complicated problem, which means we need to carefully appraise the measures to be adopted.
The Commission has already started work to come up with a practical response to these issues. At our request, a major study has already been conducted on the consequences of bankruptcy in the air transport sector, particularly those for passengers. This detailed study explains in practical terms the consequences of bankruptcies and their impact on the 700 million or more passengers transported every year throughout the European Union.
The study offers various possible scenarios for defining the best solutions to the various problems raised by bankruptcies, particularly in terms of reimbursement and repatriation, as I just mentioned. As far as both reimbursement and repatriation are concerned, it has been possible to formulate various scenarios, ranging from the setting up of guarantee funds to the development of compulsory insurance schemes for passengers or airlines, and, ultimately, to the idea of introducing targeted changes in national bankruptcy laws.
In February this year, I sent the study to Mr Costa, who chaired the Committee on Transport and Tourism at the time. The Commission is now continuing to analyse the various possible options on the basis of this study and is focusing in particular on the impact on consumers and on the air transport sector. During our analysis, we will take into account all aspects of the debate and will take advantage of contributions from all interested parties. Along the same lines, in the coming weeks, the Commission will set in motion a wide-ranging public consultation process on passenger rights in the air transport sector.
Within this context, and without underestimating the differences and the specific features of package holidays, the Commission will also take into account the impact assessment currently being carried out on the review of Directive 90/314 relating precisely to package holidays. This is because one of the main aims of the public consultation process will be to determine the consequences for passengers of airlines going bankrupt and the possible solutions for remedying this. Obviously, as well as the public consultation, a study will be carried out – as I have already mentioned – to analyse the impact of the various possible solutions.
Obviously, Parliament’s contribution will be crucial as far as I am concerned and – in view also of the dedication with which the Committee on Transport and Tourism has worked together to come up with this oral question today – I believe that over the coming weeks, we will be able to cooperate usefully in order to identify together the best solution for meeting passengers’ needs and for safeguarding their rights effectively should airlines go bankrupt."@en1
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