Brussels, 08/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The rejection by MEPs of the Commission's proposal to further liberalise ground handling services (see EUROPE 10724) is welcomed by the sector in question. Nonetheless, this does not resolve existing problems and it will still be necessary to do more to improve the quality of those services and the working conditions, stakeholders say.
Votes were cast at the parliamentary committee on transport (TRAN), on Tuesday 6 November, on the airport package. The committee as a whole rejected the part relating to ground handling services in airports, such as luggage management, de-icing of aircraft and refuelling. This is a victory for the personnel of those ground handling services which, moreover, protested vigorously on the day of the vote before the European Parliament. Nonetheless, the political secretary of the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), François Ballestero, considers that the “rejection of this proposal by the EP must be followed quickly by a new Commission proposal, which doesn't further deregulate the market, protects all workers in case of call for tenders and/or partial loss of activities and ensures that companies are only allowed to provide services if they apply a representative collective agreement”.
The airports, also, partially appreciate the rejection by MEPs. The Airports Council International (ACI) Europe regrets what it says is the unfortunate attention paid to deregulation, when the main objective of the proposal is to improve the quality and efficiency of ground handling operations in airports. ACI Europe would nonetheless have liked MEPs to give their support to “granting airport operators the ability to coordinate ground handling services - in particular through the setting and enforcement of minimum quality standards for such services”. (MD/transl.jl)