On Wednesday 14 May, the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) examined the proposed amendments to the revision of the regulations on the enforcement of passenger rights and on passenger rights in the context of multimodal journeys. Despite some differences of opinion among the MEPs, there is a consensus on the texts. They unanimously denounced the EU Council’s attempt to override their power over the air passenger dossier.
Respect for passenger rights. Negotiations have already begun and a number of technical points are still outstanding. The rapporteur, Matteo Ricci (S&D, Italian), Vicent Marzà i Ibàñez (Greens/EFA, Spanish) and Arash Saeidi (The Left, French) support the creation of an automated compensation system, as only 5% of passengers affected by disruptions to air services reach the end of the procedure (see EUROPE 13587/9). “This would make it possible to reduce discrimination between those passengers who know how to put in a request and those who don’t”, argued Mr Ricci.
The issue of hand luggage on planes is also being discussed. Jan-Christoph Oetjen (Renew Europe, German) and Andrey Novakov (EPP, Bulgarian) advocated a differentiated approach, depending on the type of aircraft, but without defining exact dimensions. In the opinion of the European Commission representative, it would be a good thing to harmonise hand luggage sizes, but this text is not the one that needs to be amended to achieve it.
“It’s very annoying that in the EU Council, apparently the Member States are wanting to go for this first reading position which will lead us not to be able to negotiate properly between the European Parliament and EU Council”, criticised Mr Oetjen. “I urge, really, all Member States to come to their senses and give this regulation a proper possibility to be negotiated between the EU Council and Parliament”, he stressed. In December, the European Transport Ministers expressed their desire to resume discussions on air passenger rights (see EUROPE 13540/9).
Multimodal travel. Discussions on this text have already begun. The rapporteur, Jens Gieseke (EPP, German), pointed out that there was little multimodal transport on offer, and that binding rules were needed for carriers and intermediaries, without over-regulating.
Andreas Schieder (S&D, Austrian), represented by his colleague Vivien Costanzo (German), wants to extend passenger protection to combined, multimodal journeys, and not just to the 5% of single tickets. “Passengers travel using separate tickets from different operators. Their journeys should not disappear with a change of mode or company”, she said in their defence.
For Mr Oetjen, this directive comes too early, as the proposal on single ticketing has not even been presented yet (see EUROPE 13613/26). “We need to create the market conditions for multimodal contracts”, he said.
Read the draft amendments on passenger rights: https://aeur.eu/f/gu1
And the draft amendments on multimodal travel: https://aeur.eu/f/gu2 ; https://aeur.eu/f/gu3 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)