Mr President, I have been given a very generous eight minutes on my report here in front of this packed Chamber this evening – I suspect that is because many people find this report quite technical and detailed. Whilst drawing up the second liberalisation package in 1989, the Council and the Commission agreed that Community air transport policy had to address the harmonisation of the regulatory framework applicable to civil aviation. Subsequently, Council Regulation 3922/91 was established in which the technical requirements, known as Joint Aviation Requirements, formulated by the JAA, were given the force of law within the Community. It is against this background that the Joint Aviation Requirements, known as JAR-OPS, agreed by the JAA in 1995, are now being transposed into European Union law. This in itself has proved to be a difficult exercise. But the Community has committed itself to adopting harmonised safety requirements for the operation of aircraft. In this regard, the JAR-OPS 1 Regulation constitutes a good basis from which we can work, with minimum changes, in order to amend the appropriate regulations. However, there are areas in which Parliament needs to act. Firstly, in regard to cabin crew. Operators should have the responsibility for training, but this should be done on a harmonised basis, with a distinct, uniform, European-wide certification system which would be accepted by all Member States. There is no doubt in my mind that in most cases the operators are best qualified to organise training. But this should not preclude other qualified organisations from having the possibility to do training, providing, of course, that all training is approved by the National Civil Aviation Authorities. In addition, the cabin crew directive should now be incorporated into this regulation. Secondly, the difficult issue of flight time limitation was not addressed by the Commission. The relevant part, known as Subpart Q, is missing. This is nonsensical, because you cannot have a directive which purports to have safety as a major part of it leaving out the issue of duty time for cockpit crews. In this area, the social partners have been trying to reach an agreement for ten years. Ten years and no agreement must be a failure by any measurement you wish to adopt. However, the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism recognise that the best people to deal with this problem are indeed the trade unions and the airline operators and, in a spirit of compromise, have agreed to give all sides until 1 May 2001 to reach an agreement that will form the text of a new Subpart Q. However, should they fail in their endeavours then, at the second reading stage, Parliament, through the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism, will act and legislate in this area. I am hopeful that the relevant social partners will reach an agreement. I am grateful to them for their current efforts. Amendments have been proposed that also look at the problem of cabin baggage. Sadly, airlines at present do not strictly enforce cabin baggage regulations, which has led to passengers bringing more and more bags into airline cabins. Amendment No 16 addresses this problem, which was highlighted to me by the cabin crew themselves and even some airlines. I find it totally amazing that groups in Parliament will vote against this amendment. This is a safety issue, and as their rapporteur I would ask them to seriously reconsider their opinion. This amendment is totally acceptable to all airlines and cabin crew and it in no way stops passengers having cabin baggage. What it does is stop the excessive cabin baggage which has led to passengers being injured from luggage falling out of overhead bins; to passengers having restricted access in case of emergency evacuation procedures and, which I know from my own experience, to aircraft toilets being used to carry bags. Whilst I appreciate that MEPs are amongst the worst culprits for excessive cabin baggage, I would hope their sense of responsibility would enable them to recognise that a problem exists, that this problem compromises safety and that Amendment No 16 should be supported. I believe that the report before us is worth supporting. However, in conclusion, I feel I must reiterate the warning I made earlier that we need an agreement on flight time limitation before 1 May from our social partners. If they can deliver that agreement for us, then I believe we will have a document that we can rightly be proud of. I have to say that if they fail in their endeavours, I am sure Parliament will feel obliged to act on their behalf.

Political group: PSE