Brussels, 11/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - Awaiting the European Parliament's opinion on the matter (the EP is expected to examine it in April 2010), EU Member States' transport ministers took note in Brussels on Thursday 11 March 2010 of a progress report on the draft directive on air security charges. Despite new compromise proposals published by the Spanish Presidency on issues like the directive's scope (airports through which at least two million passengers a year fly), it has not been possible to strike agreement on the outstanding issues.
Some countries challenge the very idea of a directive, which has been requested by the European Parliament in odder to get Member States to pay for addition air security measures in addition to existing EU legislation. Some countries question the need for EU rules in the first place because a directive was introduced last year on airport charges. There are also disagreements over the security charges impact assessments. The Commission's draft legislation says that before stricter measures are introduced, Member States must carry out impact assessments on the actual amount at which the security charges would be set and how much the measures would actually cost (compared with the amount charged) as the draft directive states that the income received must only be used to cover security costs.
The European Commission has decided not to take a position at this stage. During the debate, EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas asked who should pay for security, noting that if the taxpayer is made to pay (as the EP desires, Ed.), then that would be to air transport's advantage (because it would not have to pa the costs, Ed.) but he wanted a fair environment to be set up for all forms of transport. He said the issue could not be decided upon in a hurry and there were no black and white solutions. (A.By trans fl)