Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-22-Speech-3-479"
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"en.20081022.25.3-479"2
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"Thank you, Madam President. Commissioner, in spite of the rain, this could be a nice day. I would like to congratulate both the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteur since, by joining forces with the Commission, the Slovenian and then the French presidency, we have succeeded, following lengthy discussions, in achieving a good compromise. We, too, are taking a leap in the dark, and so I would appreciate it if Member States were to begin implementation of this directive as soon as possible, and not only after the two-year period that has been negotiated. This will allow us to gauge effectively what our legislative activity is worth, and to make the necessary adjustments at the time of the four-year review.
I hope that the Member States understand this and quickly complete the necessary institutional developments, where needed. I trust, as well, that the directive will result in transparent charges and moderate price increases, so that we can prevent predatory airlines from abusing their superior power to gain an advantage over their competitors by offering the same service for lower prices at airports crying out for customers. At the same time, we could also ensure airports do not arbitrarily raise their charges in an untransparent manner and, as is often done, by leaps and bounds. In both cases, the aim is to ensure that European consumers pay only for what they have actually used. This is another reason why we have not allowed the costs of security or of assistance to disabled passengers to be included in the charges. I consider it a good compromise that whether or not revenues from an airport’s commercial activities may be taken into account is left to the discretion of the Member State in question. Similarly, a good result was achieved through the agreement reached regarding airport networks, whereby a common managing body is acceptable, but participants will be subject – as promised by the Commission – to the rules of competition when it comes to setting charges, even if there is a danger of market distortion with respect to nearby airports in other countries. The compromise regarding spheres of authority is a good one.
In addition to having airports whose annual passenger traffic is over 5 million and the airport with the highest passenger movement in each Member State, I myself would have preferred that smaller and possibly competing airports nearby had also been included. In order to reach an agreement, however, I abandoned this position, although at the next review I would like to examine this element as well. I accept, even if I am not happy, that we have confirmed in the recitals the possibility of pre-financing, referring to ICAO policies, although I would have preferred to see these in the main body of the text. I hope that gradual increases in charges, instead of sudden price rises, will be perceived by passengers in a more benign manner, but this too will need to be looked at upon review. The result is transparency in financing by the State or other public authorities. This is an important factor in the competition between airports, and so is taking into account the perspective of environmental protection. I see as the most significant result the fact that each Member State must establish a strong, independent national authority with considerable powers. I am proud that the principle whereby, in the event of disputes over establishing the charges, there should not be an endless process of conciliation, was accepted and included in the report. Instead, an interim decision should be taken, which can set in motion the conciliation process. Thank you very much, Madam President."@en1
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