Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-03-08-Speech-1-115"
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"en.20100308.16.1-115"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, as our new Commissioner has already said, the legislative framework is no longer suited to today’s reality of a greatly changed travel market, which has given rise to very many problems and a great deal of frustration, not only among consumers but also among travel agents and tour operators. It is clear that the number of people still enjoying effective protection under the existing directive has fallen tremendously even though more people are travelling.
Indeed, the European Parliament has been calling for a revision of the directive for years. As you said, the sticking points and possible solutions are well known. Another consultation has just been completed. In my opinion, it really is now high time we took the plunge. I welcome the Commission statement, but I should just like to identify a number of specific points that are very important to us.
Firstly, the scope of the directive must certainly be clarified and even extended. As we have already heard, more and more consumers are putting together dynamic travel packages or booking separate travel services. Just recently, as a result of the problems with the Eurostar, we saw thousands of tourists running into problems because they were not given any compensation for hotels or theatre tickets they had booked. This kind of thing is unacceptable.
In my opinion, passengers’ rights must also be given a clear place in the directive. We do have to take sufficient account of the widely differing travel markets and differing holiday practices of consumers in the various Member States and of national case-law, of course, but harmonisation is required, as some concepts differ greatly, such as that of the tour operator, the agent and force majeure. I read in the consultation held by the Commission in 2007 that, in fact, very detailed feedback came in from the industry and the stakeholders, and so I ask myself what the problem is. Why are we not taking a decision now? There have also been calls for a kind of ‘Travel Protection Label’. I should have liked to hear the Commissioner’s opinion on this.
My second point concerns the role and responsibility of travel agents. This needs to be defined much more clearly, as consumers are inundated with information via the Internet but this is far from reliable and can even cause significant harm: in extreme cases, people have paid rent for holiday apartments that do not even exist. Therefore, the role of travel agents should be regulated much more precisely.
We have already discussed bankruptcies. In a Parliament resolution, this House made a very clear call for the passengers affected to be better protected. Living as I do in a border region between Flanders and the Netherlands, I also wish to call for particular attention to cross-border sales, as protection is often limited to the travel contract entered into in a particular Member State.
My final point concerns consumer information on prices. In most other sectors, the prices of services sold must be fixed and all inclusive, and this should also apply to travel services. Do you share this view? I should have liked to hear your views on this. Consumer rights must be clarified and stricter and more specific information requirements must apply in the case also of force majeure and a change in the range of travel services offered. Perhaps we should also consider introducing sanctions in the new directive. I hope the Commission will get to grips with this very soon and present us with a new proposal to discuss in this House."@en1
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