Brussels, 21/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Greens/EFA Group of the European Parliament is to launch on 25 January a European campaign against night flights. “In the European Union there are more than 550,000 night flights each year and more than 10 million people lose sleep as a result”, the Greens state in a press release. The Greens/EFA, headed by Bart Staes and Pierre Jonckheer of Belgium, have therefore submitted a written declaration to the Parliament in which they call on the European Commission to present, by end 2005, a proposal aimed at limiting the number of night flights within the EU between 23h00 and 7h00. The Greens state that, if by the end of the month of February, over half of the members of Parliament have signed the declaration, “this will oblige the Commission to produce a proposal for a law restricting night flights in the EU”. Although MEPs are entitled to hope that the Commission will comply with their wishes, the Commission does not have to do so by law. Article 192 of the treaty provides for the Parliament to be able to ask the Commission to present a legislative proposal but leaves it up to the Commission to assess when it would be appropriate. “The intention of this campaign is to protect both human health and jobs. The problem with night flights can only be solved at a European level, otherwise we will have a race to the bottom where airlines will simply move their operations to the country or region with the lowest standards in this field”, Jonckheer said. Belgium was recently faced with this problem after the decision by the company DHL to leave Brussels for Liepzig, Germany. (Information: http://www.pasdevolsdenuit.org ).