MEPs want governments to pay up for air-travel security

The European Parliament is heading for a clash with member states after MEPs voted to change a draft law to compel governments to pay part of the costs of air travel security. The proposal would also ensure that a ban on liquids on board aircraft expires after six months and would restrict the deployment of ‘sky marshals’.

The law sets down common rules on security for civil air transport, such as screening, monitoring, searches and prohibited items. The Parliament’s transport committee in a first reading last year proposed that the law be changed to include the sharing of costs of security between governments and airlines.

The Council of Ministers last December rejected the idea saying that "it is inappropriate for a technical regulation such as the one at hand to contain requirements or obligations on financing. The principle of subsidiarity dictates that such questions be addressed at national level".

But the transport committee voted last week (11 April) to reinsert the change and if, as expected, the plenary supports the move next week, both sides will meet in a conciliation process to try to work out a compromise.

Italian Liberal MEP Paolo Costa, the committee’s chairman and author of the report, said that member states should bear part of the responsibility for financing security to ensure passengers were not over-burdened with charges. He said that sharing costs was also important in the interests of competition for the airline sector.

"We want them [member states] to accept the principle of sharing. We are not asking the Council to take a bigger share of the costs as every member state will be free to choose the level of sharing of costs. I don’t understand why there is such resistance to this idea," he said.

The US government pays for a large part of security at airports and on airlines and this distorts competition for European airlines, added Costa. "In cases where the state is paying for everything that is not correct either. And it is clear that costs can’t be put on the shoulders of passengers," he said.

The Association of European Airlines (AEA) supports the move to share costs. "We have always said security is a matter for states because it is about protecting citizens," said Françoise Humbert, general manager of communications at the AEA.

The Parliament’s amendments also mean that specific security measures, such as the restrictions on liquids being carried onto aircraft, would expire after six months but could be maintained after "a thorough re-evaluation of the security risks and a thorough evaluation of costs and operational impact associated with those measures".

"This is about not leaving everything in place just because it’s there…we want governments to be aware of what they are doing. If they insist on going ahead, no problem, but they need to handle it with care," said Costa.

Amendment of the draft law would allow member states to refuse entry of in-flight security officers, or ‘sky marshals’, onto airlines authorised by them. The amended proposal says that approval must be sought from countries of departure and arrival before weapons are carried on board.

The European Parliament is heading for a clash with member states after MEPs voted to change a draft law to compel governments to pay part of the costs of air travel security. The proposal would also ensure that a ban on liquids on board aircraft expires after six months and would restrict the deployment of ‘sky marshals’.