EUROPE. The European Parliament today adopted a resolution calling upon the EU Commission to urgently review the liquids restrictions imposed on airline passengers.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted overwhelmingly for a resolution that urges a review or a repeal of the current measures relating to liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs). The vote was 464 in favour, 158 against with 70 abstentions.
In the resolution, MEPs expressed their concern that the costs of the regulations may not be proportionate to the added value achieved by additional security provisions. This comes in the wake of wholesale confiscations of LAGs at EU airports since the new rules were first adopted last November.
The Parliament’s report on the matter today said: “The European Parliament supports all security measures against terrorist risks in aviation. The need for high-quality security is unquestionable. However, security measures need to be “realistically” designed to minimise the risk and may not be “disproportionate”.
With regard to the liquids regulation, MEPs argued that it causes increased costs to airports and operators as well as to passengers resulting from the confiscation of private property. MEPs also recognised the “substantial inconvenience and disruption” caused to passengers, especially transit passengers.
Despite the resolution, industry campaigners expressed doubts over whether the Commission would follow Parliament’s lead. The Commission is not bound by Parliamentary resolutions.
John Hume, of Hume Brophy Communications, who has represented the trade’s interests on the matter at EU level, told The Moodie Report: “This is very unlikely to affect the Commission’s thinking. The LAGs restrictions are there in place, and they are likely to remain so until the threat disappears, or new technological solutions can be found to counter the threat. In this instance, the Parliament’s voice is unlikely to make a difference.”
Update: A subsequent statement from EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said: “Europe must not show any sign of weakness. It must not lower its guard but on the contrary reinforce its vigilance and maintain the full range of prevention instruments it has adopted. This regulation cannot be abrogated as long as the threat of liquid explosives exists and we have not developed other effective means of countering it.”
He reaffirmed the importance of passenger safety, and also said it would be wrong to expose airlines to the economic consequences of a bomb attack which would be far greater than the inconvenience of the prevention measures.
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