EU: no new 'green' requirements for aviation with corona support

Photo by Troy Mortier on Unsplash

European Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean says the coronavirus outbreak is the wrong time to attach new environmental conditions to state aid to airlines. Environmental groups want any state aid to airlines to be made conditional on further reductions in their CO2 emissions and to pay taxes on kerosene.

The international transport sector has been seriously disrupted because governments have imposed all kinds of travel restrictions. As a result, airlines, railway companies and ferry connections have had to cut back or cancel their services altogether. Freight traffic also risks crashing and interrupting crucial transport chains, because additional border controls caused enormous traffic jams.

It is now clear that the corona crisis will not be limited to a short-lived global medical pandemic, but that it may also end up in an economic crisis that may become worse than the crisis of the 1930s. A corona recovery package is currently under discussion with the European Parliament in Brussels.

It is already clear that it will cost not tens or several hundred billions, but many hundreds of billions. That is why the European Commission, led by the new President Ursula von der Leyen, has now had to decide that the 27 EU Commissioners should re-examine their policy programs drawn up last year.

According to a first rough version of the new TRAN work program - which has been recognized by the news site EURACTIV - a number of bills to increase the use of sustainable fuels in the aviation and maritime sector will at least be postponed until 2021. the focus of Transport Commissioner Vălean's duties, a comprehensive strategy for sustainable mobility, is still on the agenda and is expected to be published by the end of 2020.

As aviation passenger numbers and revenue have fallen to 92% in some places, parts of that industry are facing extinction as many of the smaller players face bankruptcy. Airlines were disappointed that the European Commission considers that they should reimburse passengers instead of offering them vouchers for flights at a later date.

The EU passenger rights laws say that airlines can offer coupons instead of refunds, but it is up to the customer to accept or not. Some travel and airline companies do not comply with these rules. But Vălean is uncompromising in her view that the rules “clearly state that passengers are entitled to compensation” and that the legal protection of customers is worth protecting.

The Commissioner has admitted that airlines are free to make vouchers as attractive as possible for travelers. The Netherlands has approved time-limit vouchers that, if not used within a specified time period, will be refunded in full. Airlines are eager to offer coupons because repayments deplete their cash reserves when they are most needed.