Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-07-Speech-4-050"
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"en.20090507.8.4-050"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, once again, as a former Member of this House, I would like to thank the Committee on Transport and Tourism and its chairman for their productive work when I was an MEP and for the cooperation they have shown me since I had the honour to be appointed, and endorsed by Parliament, as European Commissioner for Transport. This fruitful partnership, ladies and gentlemen, can be seen again today, and so I must thank Parliament once more, especially the transport committee, chaired by Mr Costa, for the speed with which they have handled the European Commission’s proposal on slots.
A series of events – the economic crisis, the financial crisis, the new type A flu virus – is further aggravating the situation in the air transport industry, and this situation demonstrates just how urgent and indispensable support measures are, not only for the airlines, but also their employees.
In light of this, I share Mr Costa’s concern. The Commission proposal is not a definitive solution. It is perhaps a proposal intended to address an emergency, but which will then need to be re-examined in detail in order to redesign the whole system; in fact on 15 April, in response to Mr Costa’s concerns and comments, I informed him, as the committee chairman, that the Commission Directorate-General for Energy and Transport is already preparing to present a proposal as soon as possible to revise the regulation.
The rule on the use of slots has already been suspended twice in the past in order to tackle crises. It is a global response to a global crisis, a response that clearly does not affect one or two Member States but affects the air transport system of the entire European Union and, in the most serious of circumstances – the attacks of 11 September and the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) crisis – similar measures were taken. The crisis hitting the air transport industry today is probably more serious than those, and as yet we have no indication as to when we will start to see improvements.
The reality is that traffic is in continual decline. Suspending the ‘use it or lose it’ rule for the summer season will benefit all companies, European or otherwise, without any discrimination, as the IATA and many non-European companies have pointed out, moreover. I am sure that this measure, which will be for a limited period and is an exception – the suspension will in fact be in force from 29 March to 26 October this year to then allow slots to be retained for the summer season of the following year – will give some breathing space to all companies, allowing them to address the drop in demand.
It will also prevent paradoxical situations such as the current case where companies are forced to fly empty planes so as not to lose their slots, something I consider to be wholly unacceptable, not least from an environmental perspective, as well as detrimental for the airline’s finances – and we know than when a business is in difficulty, so are its employees.
I am convinced that this measure is necessary and urgent, and so I cannot fail to support the compromise reached between Parliament and the Council, which will enable the proposal to be adopted immediately. For this reason I would again like to thank the chairman of the transport committee, and Parliament as a whole."@en1
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