Brussels, 26/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Transport, Loyola de Palacio, has welcomed the Council's adoption of its proposed regulation to protect the rights of airline passengers (see p.6). All too often, airline passengers "are victims of practices which require them to receive (...) insufficient compensation", said Ms de Palacio, noting that "the action for passenger rights is one of this Commission's main initiatives to put the citizens at the heart of European policies".
In the European Parliament, German Christian Democrat Georg Jarzembowski welcomed the fact that the German government had stopped "pussyfooting around" and that by abstaining rather than voting against the regulation, had not bowed to pressure from the sector. "It is a victory for European travellers", he said.