Twelve countries have asked the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, to suspend the law that requires airlines to refund passengers for cancelled flights during the pandemic
The letter was drafted by France and the Netherlands and co-signed by Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, Poland and Portugal. It asks the Commission to make a change to the Europe-wide regulation.
"When the wording of the regulation was conceived, the current global crisis and its impact on air travel could not have been foreseen. The goal shared by the European Union and its Member States must now be to preserve the structure of the European air traffic market beyond the current crisis, while considering the interests and necessary protection of passengers," said the letter.
The 12 countries propose that airlines should be allowed to offer passengers vouchers for later use instead of a cash refund, arguing this strategy would protect both airlines and customers -- as well as help market recovery by increasing the flexibility of travel.
Following a meeting of EU Tourism ministers on Monday, Croatia’s tourism minister Gari Cappelli said that tourism represents more than 10% of the EU’s GDP and employs almost 12% of the work force.
Speaking Wednesday, shortly before the letter was sent, European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said, "We are working on a workable solution, a European solution which might result, and which might not result, it’s not clear at this moment in some legislative proposal. If we speak about vouchers then voluntary vouchers, but the debate is ongoing."
