Says EU Rules Lack Business Sense

The head of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) slammed the European Commission Friday for what it calls a failure to apply basic business-like practices when drafting legislative proposals.  Mike Ambrose, director general of the ERA, said that's resulted in billions of Euros in unnecessary costs for an airline industry still deep in crisis and fighting further job losses after the September 11th attacks on America.

Speaking to the Director's General Civil Aviation of ECAC (European Civil Aviation Conference) at their triennial meeting this week, Ambrose called for cost reductions by the bodies that provide Europe’s air navigation services and for a moratorium on all regulatory proposals which add cost burdens to airlines.

"Had the Commission performed a business impact assessment before drafting the proposed legislation on compensation and assistance for air passengers, it would have been obvious that the problems encountered by European air passengers when flights are cancelled or delayed did not warrant a EUR 2 billion solution," said Ambrose.

Still Vague

Despite over 150 changes made by the European Parliament and the European Union Council of Transport Ministers, much of the ill-considered draft proposal remains ambiguous, unclear in its intentions and strikes a poor balance between the interests of the vast majority of passengers who have trouble-free journeys and those whose journeys are disrupted.

“The EC has an obligation to ensure that any regulation is justified by an actual requirement and is accompanied by an impact assessment. Had such an approach been adopted prior to the development of the Passenger Compensation and Assistance proposals, the resultant draft regulation would not have been such an indescribable jumble of ill-considered ideas", said Ambrose.

FMI: www.eraa.org