Brussels, 31/08/2005 (Agence Europe) - French EPP-ED MEP Christine de Veyrac presented the 30 August meeting of the European Parliament's Transport Committee with her report on air safety, calling for the establishment of an airline blacklist at European level, a common list for all 25 Member States, so citizens can be guaranteed the same level of safety no matter which EU airport they travel from (see EUROPE 9011, 9012, 9013, 9014 and 9015). The UMP MEP wants the regulation unveiled by Commissioner Barrot to be adopted in the near future, adding that if the airline blacklist is to apply to the whole of the EU, basic criteria will be need to be set out by the European Commission with the aid of Member States' experts.
The President of the Transport Committee, Paolo Costa (ALDE, Italy), wants zero tolerance for unsafe airlines, and joined the rest of the Transport Committee in calling for a European blacklist. 'I do not think that Belgian and French citizens will feel safer after the publication of these lists,' he explained in a press release. Costa said the European Aviation Safety Agency should play a more important role to ensure the safety of civil aviation EU-wide.'