At its plenary session in Strasbourg, on Tuesday 17 June, the European Parliament strongly criticised the political agreement in the EU Council on the revision of air passenger rights. MEPs objected not only to the Polish Presidency’s choice of procedure, but also to the backwards step in terms of consumer protection.
In the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN), last May, MEPs had already expressed their dissatisfaction with respect to the ordinary legislative procedure (Article 294 TFEU - see EUROPE 13640/16). Andrey Novakov (EPP, Bulgarian) said he was “perplexed” by the situation. “By deciding to close the first reading, the Council has seriously damaged the trust between the two co-legislators”. added Jens Gieseke (EPP, German). “After 12 years of deadlock, a fast-track procedure is now impossible”.
The compensation thresholds chosen by the Council, which were debated by ministers (see EUROPE 13654/1), were strongly criticised. “This text calls into question a fundamental right: compensation for delays of more than three hours”, said Matteo Ricci (S&D, Italian). “Raising the threshold to four hours risks considerably weakening passenger protection, as it would exclude more than 60% of current compensation”. “This is a clear step backwards in terms of consumer rights and protection”, argued Roman Haider (PfE, Austrian).
Oihane Agirregoitia Martínez (Renew Europe, Spanish) also disapproved of the delays in compensation and claims. “People with disabilities who have to travel with an accompanying person have to pay the full cost of that person’s ticket, whereas this problem has already been solved for other modes of transport”, she added.
For his part, Johan Danielsson (S&D, Swedish) expressed his incomprehension at the fact that payment in the event of a delay is not automatic: “It is unreasonable that travellers should now have to fill in forms and wait months to receive the money to which they are already entitled”.
“I understand that most, if not all, of you want even more rights for passengers and I agree with you”, concluded Apóstolos Tzitzikóstas, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism. He pledged to ensure that the inter-institutional negotiations would help “to reach the best possible balance that will allow passengers to have even more rights”. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)