mr president it has been said in the debate but i will reiterate that we are all aware of the huge extent of the disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud
as has been mentioned over one hundred zero flights were cancelled tens of millions of business and holiday passengers were not able to travel as planned goods and cargo were delayed or not transported at all businesses were affected and our european carriers and airports suffered catastrophic financial losses
all in all it cost the european airlines more than eur two billion
institutions across europe and in member states who were responsible for dealing with such issues were absolutely paralysed and quite frankly if it had not been so serious it would have been practically laughable
in all this chaos one thing was clear
air transport is enormously important for the european economy and as individuals we depend on a thriving and efficient air transport industry where safety for crew and passengers is the first prerogative
as such i am delighted to support this oral question not least because during our previous plenary debate on this issue i called for the european union to look at international best practice on dealing with volcanic ash and more particularly highlighted america which has always applied a more measured approach in this regard
i certainly welcomed the fact that the commission in its assessment of the crisis accepted that europe needed to revise procedures through the international civil aviation organisation
international best practice tells us that responsibility for dealing with potential hazards related to volcanic ash must be transferred to the airline operators as part of their safety management systems
the role of the authorities is to audit the airline safety management system to ensure that it meets the required safety standards
this is the procedure applied by the us and other countries which have managed to deal with volcanic eruptions without major disruptions to air traffic
clear and decisive joined-up leadership is essential and we need the european aviation safety agency to ensure that eu member states adapt their current procedures to guarantee that airline operators will take responsibility and be supported in making such decisions in future
lastly the crisis in april and may last year made it absolutely clear that as a priority we need to push for the full implementation of the single european sky and sesar
both european industry and the taxpayer have already invested huge sums of money in these projects and as european lawmakers we must continue to push forward well balanced cost-effective and structural reforms
i welcome the comments by the commissioner today
let us hope that we move forward now in a positive way
