The European Parliament today voted to approve EU legislation aimed at liberalising ground-handling services at airports. The Greens hit out at the revised plans and expressed regret at the EP vote, with Green transport spokesperson Eva Lichtenberger stating:

"MEPs have regrettably given clearance to these flawed plans to further liberalise ground-handling services. The cobbled-together compromise adopted today is both senseless, as it will only apply to a handful of airports (1), and flawed, as it fails to provide guarantees for employee rights.

"Apart from the wrongheadedness of creating EU legislation for a handful of airports, the proposals to further liberalise ground-handling services risk further undermining social and employment standards. Bad working conditions for ground-handlers undermine the quality of services, with unacceptable consequences on safety and security. Further undermining working conditions is against the interests of both workers and passengers. The legislation adopted today creates no value-added and should have been grounded permanently."

(1) The proposals to liberalise ground-handling services to allow 3 operators will only apply to airports with more than 15 million passengers or 200,000 tonnes of cargo.