The European Commission has accepted the measure, by asking Paris that it also applies to correspondence flights.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
Brussels has validated, with some adjustments, the French measure for the abolition of domestic flights when a train journey less than two and a half hours is possible, according to a decision published Friday, December 2 in the Official Journal of the European Union . This measure, emblematic provision of the 2021 climate law, will have to be re -examined after three years and will also apply to correspondence flights, specifies the text.
The European executive announced in December 2021 to conduct an “in -depth analysis” of this project, disputed by the Union of French Airports (UAF) jointly with the European branch of the International Airport Council (ACI Europe). The latter believed in particular that French law, which has the consequence of banning links between Paris-Orly and Nantes, Lyon or Bordeaux, introduced discrimination between carriers.
“Pioneer” according to Clément Beaune
Discussions took place between the European Commission and the French government to ensure the compliance of the project for European legislation. Paris must have given up on a derogation that the law provided for in correspondence journeys, the commission judging that it introduced a distortion of competition between airlines, in particular those “whose economic model is not focused on passengers in Correspondence “.
The European Air Services regulation provides that a member state may, “when there are serious environmental problems (…), limit or refuse the exercise of traffic rights, especially when Other modes of transport provide a satisfactory service “. He specifies, however, that these measures must be “non -discriminatory”, do not cause “competition distortion between air carriers”, not be “more restrictive than necessary” and have “a limited period of validity, not exceeding three years, at the end of which they are re-examined “.
In a press release, the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, praised the committee’s decision, which constitutes “a major advance in the policy of reducing greenhouse gases”. Brussels’ decision, he says, “will launch new steps in the effective prohibition of airlines when there is an alternative of less than two thirty by train”. “I am proud that France is a pioneer in the matter,” he adds.