Commission welcomes today’s vote of the EP on groundhandling services at EU airports

Brussels, 18-4-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — The European Commission welcomes today’s vote of the European Parliament on groundhandling services at EU airports updating Directive 96/67/EC. With this vote, the Parliament is paving the way for negotiations with the Council and the Commission to overhaul the existing legislation dating from 1996.

Vice-President Siim Kallas stated: “I welcome the vote and I thank the European Parliament for the hard work done. Groundhandling services are a key function in the aviation chain. They are essential for the 800 million passengers using EU airports every year. I firmly believe that if we want our airports and airlines to remain competitive, quality and efficiency of groundhandling services must be improved in the passengers’ interest. I now call on the Council and the Parliament to quickly start negotiations on the Airport package to get concrete deliverables on slot, noise and groundhandling by year end”.

The 2011 proposal aims at improving the efficiency and overall quality of groundhandling services at EU airports to tackle persistent problems with efficiency and quality. At the same time, the proposal would allow Member States to go further in protecting workers rights. The proposal also strengthens the role of airports with overall responsibility for the coordination of ground-handling services.

The Council adopted a general approach in March 2012 in favour of a modernisation of EU rules

See also IP/11/1484 and MEMO/11/857

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