Brussels, 24/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - MEPs have stepped up their opposition to further liberalisation of ground handling. They made this quite clear to European Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas during his presentation of the airport package (see EUROPE 10507) to members of the parliamentary transport and tourism (TRAN) committee on Tuesday 24 January.
The Commission is proposing to put a stop to the almost monopolistic situation affecting ground handling providers in major European airports by opening up competition to not just two but three service providers. Matthieu Grosch (EPP, Belgium) said that this service should be ensured by those that are the best and safest and not necessary the least expensive. Jörg Leichtfried (S&D, Austria) questions the validity of the proposal and said that “this will not help improve things for passengers or workers”. Gesine Meissner (ALDE, Germany) said that it was not certain that the proposal would reduce delays, as claimed by the commissioner. She is also recommending that the proposal take the form of a directive, which is more flexible than a regulation. Eva Lichtenberger (Greens/EFA, Austria) is afraid that significantly increasing the number of service providers is quite simply “organised irresponsibility”, where in the end no one is ultimately responsible for what is happening. (MD/transl.fl)