Brussels, 11/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has turned to a former commissioner to undertake a tour of European capitals to raise awareness in member states of passenger rights, particularly in rail and air travel. Meglena Kuneva was in Ljubljana on Tuesday 10 April, having already visited Madrid and Rome, among other places. This is a move that is far from being insignificant as the Commission looks set to further improve passengers' rights this summer.
Former consumer protection commissioner Kuneva has been called in to act as special adviser on passenger rights to current Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas. In Slovenia on Tuesday, she met various players in the transport sector and held discussions on the implementation of current European passenger protection rules. She began her tour in Berlin in September 2010. She followed that up with visits to Vienna, Rome, Madrid and Bucharest, and her tour is likely to run until June of this year.
During her travels Kuneva meets the heads of national enforcement bodies (NEBs), passenger rights mediators, passengers' and disabled persons' organisations, and transport industry representatives. She is looking to obtain information on the implementation of the regulations on air and rail passenger rights and to further involve stakeholders in the Passengers Rights Campaign and in the correct implementation of EU rules.
The EU will soon be able to boast that it is the only bloc to offer protection to its travellers on all forms of transport. European air and rail passenger rights are already in force. Rights for water transport and bus/coach passengers will apply from December 2012 and March 2013 respectively. European rules will then cover all forms of transport, but the Commission has not ruled out going further this summer in proposing improvements for train and plane passengers. (MD/transl.rt)