Brussels, 08/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - Reacting on Monday 5 March to the adoption of the renewed black list of airlines that are banned from the EU, the French MEP and rapporteur on this issue at the European Parliament, Christine de Veyrac (EPP-ED), welcomed the fact that the European Commission has not hesitated to point its finger at certain European airline companies. We recall that the Commission had, during the last meeting of expert groups on air traffic regulations on 23 February, envisaged including Bulgarian and Cypriot carriers (Air Sofia, Bright Aviation Services, Heli Air Services, Skorpion Air and Vega Airlines for Bulgaria, and A Jet for Cyprus) on the black list. The civil aviation authorities of these two member states, however, preferred to withdraw the flight permits from each of the companies concerned themselves. Ms de Veyrac states in a press release that the system set in place at European level is very effective. States, she said, are afraid of the bad advertising that it would bring them and prefer to play the precautionary card by withdrawing their licenses from the carriers rather than being included on the black list. She stressed that the Community black list does not only have an informative and dissuasive role but also corrects security failings. It pushes companies to react swiftly so that problems leading them to be added to the black list are resolved. Ms de Veyrac recalled the names of the two carriers in question, that have been struck off the list for the first time thanks to the introduction of appropriate security measures. (aby)