Brussels, 19/03/2013 (Agence Europe) -MEPs in the European Parliament's transport committee voted, by a narrow majority, on Tuesday 19 March 2013 in favour of the European Commission's draft legislation on flight stopover aid after the report by Artur Zasada (EPP, Poland) was rejected by the plenary and sent back to the Transport Committee. By 19 votes to 15, and with no fewer than ten abstentions, the report was adopted by the committee, but there is no guarantee that this piece of the airport package will be endorsed by the plenary in April (there will not be any new amendments to vote upon in April).
Most airports will be affected. Artur Zasada's report, as adopted by the Transport Committee, waters down the Commission's liberalisation plans by not requiring a third airport services provider to compete for contracts except at big airports with more than 15,000 passengers a year (as opposed to 5,000 in the initial draft). The MEPs want a longer transition period of up to ten years to remove duopolies, as opposed to the six years or so suggested by the Commission. The rapporteur told this newsletter (after the vote) that he would have preferred greater liberalisation, but had had to compromise. German airports may well be the most affected by the new rules because Paris and London airports already use multiple operators. The Greens fiercely opposed the draft legislation and it is possible that the MEPs voted along national lines.
Social affairs, standards and calls for tender. The MEPs strengthened the social aspects of the draft legislation by requiring sub-contractors to meet the same labour collective conditions as stopover services operators. The rapporteur stresses the utility of a single operator approval system and a single call for tender system. MEPs also increased the list of minimum quality standards to be set by airports. “In the next few years, every European airport will have its own minimum standards that will have to be respected by the ground-handling companies willing to operate at the airport. This will include e.g. the maximum waiting time for baggage check-in, maximum time for delivery of first and last items of baggage, minimum stock of de-icing fluid at each airport or a minimum number of staff members able to provide information at the gate”, explained Zasada.
Vote by the plenary. The report will be submitted again to a vote in plenary next month. Zasada is confident it will be endorsed. He told this newsletter he was happy the report had been given the go-ahead by the Transport Committee and hoped the plenary would do the same, noting that, on 19 March, even the Socialists had voted in favour, which boded well for the future.
Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said that the vote was important, adding: “We'll see what will happen during the plenary session, but you know that these discussions have been very difficult. We have had several votes in the EP and we hope that his document will be finalised and that we will have some positive changes”. (MD/transl.fl)