Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-04-20-Speech-2-023"
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"en.20100420.3.2-023"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, I think there are three important elements to this debate. First of all, the support provided to and the repatriation of stranded passengers; that has to be the absolutely top priority for all authorities at all levels. In that connection, we can agree that the European Regulation on Passenger Rights has secured for a great many of them at least a minimum of comfort and support. However, in practice – as you are well aware – we have, of course, experienced quite a few problems: chaos in the airports, a lack of information, etc. I therefore advocate that we set up an enquiry at a European level, in cooperation with the airlines and all the other parties involved, so that we can look into how we can help in these kinds of situations.
Moreover, I would also call on you to establish a kind of task force at Commission and Member State level to organise repatriation as effectively as possible. I know that this is a job for the airlines, but there are certainly people stranded out there in distant locations who will have to wait quite some time for repatriation, even if airspace is reopened. We need to give our attention to that.
A second important element, a second chapter, if you like, is the procedure for instituting flight bans. What has happened is that we have again heard pleas for more cooperation and more European-level coordination and the single European sky – something to which references have already been made – will prove helpful in the future. It is true that the European Union currently has no decision-making powers either over the airspace of the Member States or over Eurocontrol, which makes it very difficult to take effective and coordinated decisions.
However, it is also true that, until yesterday evening, we were actually using a rather conservative mathematical model at a European level. Basically, this model is based on the worst-case scenario, which means that a little bit of volcanic dust has been flagged up as a massive cloud requiring a flight ban, as it were. You will be aware that the US is using another model, one which applies a flight ban only to the area directly above the volcano itself and which leaves the operating risks in the hands of the airlines. That is another model. The model in between these two extremes that has already been agreed on – the one with the three zones – now, that is a good model. Let us see how we can really integrate safety and efficiency with that.
My third and last point is about how we are coping with the economic impact. It is a good idea to list the various possibilities, but we need a European approach. Finally, let me just add that we should not delude people into thinking that we will be able to compensate everyone for the inconvenience they have suffered. That is simply not possible."@en1
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