The European Commission is planning to begin an assessment of the directive on access to the market for stopover assistance in EU airports (Directive 96//96/EC) in 2018 and to publish a roadmap on the subject the following year.
The announcement was made by a Commission representative at a conference on the directive organised in Copenhagen on Thursday 27 April by the social partners in the stopover assistance sector.
The assessment of the twenty-year old directive will be followed by an impact assessment, explained the Commission representative. The assessment will be based on five criteria, viz. effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, pertinence and EU value-added, she told the social partners. The outcome and a decision to propose a new directive will take place a year or a year and a half later, she said.
"I see that stopover assistance is not a priority for the Commission despite the many problems faced by workers", explained François Ballestero, political manager for civil aviation at the European Transport Workers Federation (ETF) to this newsletter with some bitterness.
The trade unionist hopes that the social partners will be closely involved in the assessment so that their position can be reflected in the roadmap. He said it was crucial for worker protection and social aspects to be taken into account, particularly for the signing of procurement contracts.
At the conference, the social partners present - ETF, the International Airports Council (ACI) and Airport Services Association (ASA) – presented to the European Commission a new assessment of the directive. The results of the study and the debate at the conference, which was extended until Friday 28 April – are due to be published in the second half of the year. The most recent assessment by the Commission goes back to 2009.
The social partners basically support the proposal that ground staff should be covered by the European Aviation Safety Agency, whose remit is currently being reviewed (see EUROPE 11750).
One of the partners’ great fears is that ground service procedures will be drawn up based on airline procedures alone without taking account of those of airports and service suppliers. The social partners say it is airlines’ job to decide on the operations to be carried out, but not the level of security for implementing the operations.
The social partners slammed the negative effects of market liberalisation. They call for an even playing field to be established and for training and social conditions to be taken into account when selecting stopover assistance service providers. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)