Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) strongly criticised the EU Council’s choice of procedure concerning air passenger rights on Wednesday, 14 May (see EUROPE 13640/16). According to the Council of the EU, this choice should give the file new impetus.
With the revision of passenger rights legislation, the EU Council wanted to reopen negotiations on the text, which has been on the table since 2013 (see EUROPE 13540/9). To this end, the Polish Presidency announced that it was going to close the first reading, in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (Article 294 TFEU).
Under this procedure, the European Parliament first decides on its position during the first reading and sends it to the EU Council. If the EU Council does not approve this position, [the institution] can adopt its position during the first reading and send it to the European Parliament. The European Parliament then has three months to approve or reject it by majority vote. If co-legislators are unable to reach an agreement, a conciliation committee is convened within six weeks.
According to a European diplomat contacted by Agence Europe on Thursday, 15 May, this solution will enable the future Danish Presidency of the Council to work based on a more up-to-date legal text—not one that dates back to 2014—and will provide an opportunity for the trilogue discussions to be focused on the essential issues.
“The choice to follow this ‘path’ is pragmatic, and the presidency is surely ready to facilitate good cooperation with the European Parliament”, she felt. “This creates momentum”, according to what another European source said.
However, the European Parliament does not look on this procedure with a favourable eye—especially TRAN Chair Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi (EPP, Greek), who sent a letter to Polish Minister of Infrastructure Dariusz Klimczak on Tuesday, 29 April.
“Despite the fact that the Treaty provides for this possibility, Council has not closed a first reading on any piece of EU legislation [in] the last ten years”, she pointed out.
Ms Vozemberg-Vrionidi fears that the strict deadlines leave very little time for in-depth negotiations aiming to find the best compromises and make it virtually impossible to maintain a coherent approach among the three interdependent proposals in the package.
Read the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/gup (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)