The ambassadors of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) agreed on Wednesday 27 January on the details of a new proposal to ease the rules on the use of airport slots for the summer of 2021 (see EUROPE 12625/9).
The approved text corresponds, in substance, to the latest draft compromise of the Portuguese Presidency detailed in our articles (see EUROPE 12640/20): it therefore provides for airlines to be able to return up to 50% of their series of slots, as opposed to 20% in normal times. With a few exceptions.
The EU Council also intends to empower the European Commission to adopt delegated acts for a period of one year to cover the two seasons following the 2021 summer season. Furthermore, by means of these delegated acts, the Commission should be able to modify the minimum slot utilisation rate to a value between 30 and 70% to allow a gradual return to normal.
In order for the rules to be in place for the start of the 2021 summer season on 28 March, the co-legislators have both agreed to use the urgency procedure.
The text supported by Coreper today was therefore the subject of discussions between the EU Council and MEPs beforehand, according to the European Parliament. The changes that have been made correspond to the criticisms made by the Parliamentary Committee on Transport in mid-January (see EUROPE 12634/10).
These new rules should therefore be approved in Parliament plenary session in two weeks time. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)