The European Parliament has refused to side with national capitals in rolling back EU air passenger rights, in a near-unanimous vote on Wednesday that saw MEPs reaffirm their pro-consumer stance.
The move, backed by 632 MEPs, with just 15 voting against and nine abstentions, confirmed Parliament’s opposition to the Council of the EU’s agreement to give airlines more leeway before they are required to compensate passengers for delays – setting the stage for another institutional clash over the fate of the reform.
“With this strong mandate, we are going to negotiate with the Council, I hope as soon as possible, after the Council updated [its] own mandate,” said Andrey Novakov, a Bulgarian conservative and Parliament’s lead lawmaker on the file.
He urged the Council presidency, currently held by Cyprus, to immediately update national governments’ negotiating mandates, rather than squander the remaining four-month legal window to either approve or reject Parliament’s proposal.
“The people should know that the Parliament is the one defending everything,” Novakov told reporters.
Old and new rights
MEPs voted to block the Council’s demand to extend the three-hour delay threshold after which travellers are automatically entitled to compensation, to four hours for intra-EU flights and six hours for long-haul journeys.
Parliament is also at odds with the Council – and airlines – over a mandatory free baggage allowance. MEPs wants passengers to enjoy the right to carry on board both a small bag and a larger piece of cabin luggage for free.
They also want to ban the practice of applying often exorbitant extra charges for correcting misspelt names on tickets, checking in at the airport rather than online, or booking seats so that children and people with reduced mobility are seated next to parents or carers.
These demands have so far proved unacceptable to a majority of national governments. If the the Council refuses to acquiesce to Parliament’s position, a final round of talks – known as a conciliation procedure – will be triggered.
The Cypriot presidency told Euractiv that it stands ready to launch discussions between EU countries as soon as it receives the Parliament’s papers, “with the aim of reaching an agreement on this file at the conciliation stage during our presidency.”
This suggests that the Council is likely to reject the Parliament’s current proposals. If the final negotiations reach a deadlock, the reform would be formally abandoned, leaving the existing rules unchanged.
(rh, aw)
