Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-04-20-Speech-2-068"
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"en.20100420.3.2-068"2
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"Mr President, I wish to thank the honourable Members for all their remarks. I have four additional ones to make.
That is the picture. The case is not closed. We have three or four days at least before the majority of flights resume. The solution for the economy and for passengers is a resumption of flights, with airlines bringing passengers home or taking them to their final destination. It is still a difficult situation and we must deal with the consequences.
Thank you for your remarks. We will have several opportunities to discuss this matter further.
First of all, these events have given us much food for thought as regards our strategic plans. One of the most interesting and crucial issues is intermodality and flexibility between modes of transport, and the ability of railways to act as some kind of alternative. We will address this issue soon, with the discussions on the recasting of the first railway package and the White Paper on the future of transport.
This is a very serious issue. Yesterday, we discussed it with the Council of Ministers as well. I can promise you that we are taking this issue very seriously – including teleworking and other factors aimed at limiting unnecessary transport and travel.
Concerning the economic impact, we will take all aspects into account and will make proposals. However, we should be careful. Money does not come from nowhere, and things must be fair for all the other actors in the economy. We must be very balanced in our approach. There can be no miracle.
As regards passengers’ rights, the rules are very clear. Some Members asked about the rules and whether we should revisit them. I do not think we should revisit the rules adopted by European decision makers, including the European Parliament. They are good. The question is a very different one. It is that of implementation and enforcement, which is in the hands of Member States. We have a clear plan on how to proceed with the enforcement of these rules and on how to influence the Member States. It is clear what must be done concerning passengers’ rights today.
One other matter, which is not such a big issue: many colleagues and the press have said we were too late and were not prepared. Well, I was active all the time. I was at Eurocontrol. I was in contact with ministers. In this Chamber today, you have the same dilemma as faced by all those experts and decision makers, but this is a matter which is in the hands of experts and the safety authorities, not in the hands of politicians. It is the same dilemma: safety versus flexibility.
We were prepared for a volcanic eruption but we had different types of evidence regarding the eruption. This was mentioned here as well. One British Airways flight and one KLM flight were affected by the volcanic eruption, so rules were established on the basis of there being a serious risk. The authorities acted in accordance with the assumption that there was a serious risk and that flights should be cancelled.
Now we have a more differentiated approach. On Sunday, the majority of the test flights were made and information came through to Eurocontrol, where we discussed these issues – the test flights and the definitive results for those flights. Now we have flexibility and the matter is still in the hands of the Member States. We are going ahead with the Single Sky, which is a very promising European project, and there is a common understanding among ministers that this is the way forward, with better coordination at Europe level.
This is a big opportunity. Those are the comments I wanted to make. I wanted to say that, as regards information, the Commission issued press releases on Thursday and Friday concerning passengers’ rights. We said that passengers’ rights should be taken very seriously. The information about passengers’ rights came from the Commission immediately, and as from Sunday, larger coverage began of all the issues which, by yesterday, were very well covered."@en1
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