Strasbourg, 06/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Parliament adopted a Resolution, following its rapporteur Gérard Collins (UEN, Ireland), encouraging the European Commission to improve air passenger rights. The MEPs welcomed the Commission's January 2000 Communication on air passengers' rights in this connection and the voluntary undertaking presented on 10 May 2001 by European airports and airlines but would like the principle of self-regulation to have monitoring mechanisms and include measures for making out of court settlements. They also argue that if voluntary cooperation did not make rapid progress according to a clearly defined timetable, the Commission should put forward legislative initiatives.
Prudently, the EP was waiting for the Commission's concrete proposals but recommended that the Commission avoid excessive regulations, which could jeopardise the competitiveness of the European airlines. At the same time, it called on the Commission to make specific proposals to ensure that the campaign on the Charter of Passenger Rights was better known. (The Campaign was launched in June 2000.) MEPs also want the Commission to put forward draft legislation this year to prevent airlines and airports from imposing additional charges on disabled people or those who have difficulty moving about. Concerned by the recent cases of deep vein thrombosis on long-haul flights, the MEPs also called on airlines to provide their passengers with greater information and asked the Commission to release research funds for assessing the public health risks of such flights. The EP felt that it was "unacceptable" that the Commission's Single Sky proposals to improve air traffic in Europe should be in deadlock because of the dispute over the status of Gibraltar Airport.
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