Brussels, 19/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - The social amendments made by the European Parliament to the proposed liberalisation of ground handling services was what prompted the European Commission to withdraw it (EUROPE 11220). This is good news for the unions, but they regret a missed opportunity to reinforce social rights.
The draft regulation aimed to introduce a third services operator in airports in which there is effectively a duopoly (the major German airports in particular). The Council had not yet adopted a position on the subject. The Parliament made sweeping changes to the proposal in April 2013 (EUROPE 10828), much to the disappointment of the Commission. It gave the reasons for withdrawing the proposal from its 2015 working programme as the fact that no agreement could be seen as likely. The proposal is indeed blocked at the Council, but the Commission in particular is not believed to have felt that the result of the MEPs' vote was “satisfactory”, according to a European source. It is believed that the institution did not appreciate the social conditions on liberalisation brought in by the MEPs, particularly the staff transfer obligation in the event of a change of operator.
The withdrawal of the proposal is good news to the European Transport Workers' Federation. The union had come out in force against any further liberalisation. However, it feels that an opportunity has been missed to grant social rights to workers and to recognise the role of collective agreements, says the Federation's Civil Aviation Political Secretary, François Ballestero. “We hope that the Commission will take up binding initiatives in this field in the near future”, he concluded. (MD)