“The coronavirus cannot be used as an excuse to undercut all consumer rights”, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France), Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Transport, told the press on Friday 17 April.
Referring to the “incredible battle over passenger rights” currently being fought between the Commission and European governments – in which some MEPs have also taken part (see EUROPE 12466/11) – Ms Delli said that it was “out of the question” to derogate from the EU regulation on air passenger rights (261/2004 – see EUROPE 12449/2).
The latter provides that a carrier is required to reimburse a customer who so requests. However, the airlines, forced to cancel most of their flights because of the current health crisis, assert that they no longer have the necessary liquidity to meet these requests.
Ms Delli deplored the “incredible lobbying’ operations carried out by certain States, “including France”, she said, to ensure that the European regulation is temporarily relaxed and that vouchers can replace reimbursements.
The Netherlands was the first to indicate that it intended to allow this practice. Several European ministers, notably German and Irish, have also written to the Commission to this effect.
On Wednesday 15 April, Czech Minister Karel Havlíček in turn wrote to Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean asking her to “consider adopting a new amendment” to Regulation 261/2004.
Airlines could offer vouchers, valid for a certain period of time, and reimburse them if they could not be used, suggests the Minister in his letter, consulted by EUROPE.
Ms Vălean said she was aware of the problems in the sector, but reiterated on several occasions her attachment to the respect of passengers’ rights (see EUROPE 12459/7).
“Passengers must not be doubly victimised by the pandemic”, Ms Delli also said, calling on companies to strictly respect EU law. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)