On Wednesday 18 March, Member States’ representatives to the EU (Coreper) rejected all the amendments from the European Parliament’s second-reading position on the revision of air passenger rights (see EUROPE 13828/4).
Coreper used the written procedure, which gives Member States 24 hours to express their disagreement. They will then inform the European Parliament of this rejection by letter. As soon as the European Parliament receives it, the countdown to the first conciliation session can begin. This countdown lasts six weeks - seven weeks if a request is made to this effect.
However, according to a source contacted by Agence Europe, the Parliament has asked that the written procedure not be finalised until Tuesday 24 March, as an interinstitutional negotiation meeting (trilogue) is scheduled for the previous day, on Monday 23 March. The first meeting of the Conciliation Committee will therefore be convened no later than Tuesday 19 May. Coreper approved a political letter to be sent by the Cypriot Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Marilena Raouna, to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.
Furthermore, according to our information, Germany opposed the written procedure because it did not approve the negotiating mandate proposed the previous week by the Cyprus Presidency of the Council. The Presidency’s objective is to reach an agreement by the end of June. Last week, the Commission presented a kind of impact analysis examining the options set out in the various positions. This analysis will no doubt inform discussions with the European Parliament. Read the analysis: https://aeur.eu/f/l8z (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)