The rapporteurs of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) on Wednesday 5 November expressed their pessimism about the possibility of reaching an agreement on the revised Air Passenger Rights Directive.
They reported very opposing positions with the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 13732/8), which are holding up negotiations on the revision of the passenger rights directive and the proposed directive on multimodal travel (see EUROPE 13666/14).
Andrey Novakov (EPP, Bulgarian) explained: “we are struggling with the Danish Presidency to find a common ground at least to kick off at some point and to leave the biggest disagreements for the later point. I don’t think we'll be able to do that until next year in conciliation. I wouldn’t want that, none of my colleagues in the Parliament would want that, but we are very far apart”. He added that Germany and France supported them.
Members of Parliament reiterated their unity and inflexibility regarding the thresholds for reimbursement in the event of delays (see EUROPE 13729/1). They reiterated their criticism of the EU Council’s choice of procedure. “We could have a comfortable time to solve these issues without any time pression”, deplored Mr Novakov. “I’m sure that the Council regrets having adopted a procedure that will only give us two months to resolve this report, which has taken eleven years to be agreed in the Council”.
The next meeting (trilogue) will be held on Wednesday 19 November. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)