Attachés and experts from the EU Council’s Working Party on Transport - Intermodal Questions and Networks’ met on Monday 30 September to discuss the Hungarian Presidency’s working document (see EUROPE 13494/6). The three proposed solutions regarding the concept of ‘carrier’ in the regulation on passenger rights have divided the Member States.
According to a European source contacted by Agence Europe on Tuesday 1 October, “a slight preference” - eight Member States - has been expressed in favour of option 1, i.e. giving the contracting carrier responsibility for re-routing, reimbursement and assistance to passengers in multimodal journeys. This option leaves the arrangements between carriers to the carriers themselves and would offer the easiest solution for passengers.
However, three delegations still consider, as in the second option, that responsibility should lie with the carrier operating the delayed/cancelled leg of the journey. Three other Member States fall somewhere between these two options.
Two Member States would prefer an option in which the carrier providing the delayed service and the carrier providing the subsequent service would be jointly responsible for the obligations under this regulation.
“The Presidency will reflect the preferred option in the next compromise text”, explained the source. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)