ALDE shadow rapporteur on Investigation of Accidents and Incidents in Civil Aviation Jelko Kacin (LDS, Slovenia) is proud of the results achieved in trialogue with the Council and the Commission. "The document which we have here today is an example of a good and thorough regulation of an area that demands a lot of technical precision. It is more than adequately dealing both with the investigation of accidents and incidents and with the rights of victims."
Two main concerns at the beginning of the year were the role of the judiciary investigation and the role of EASA with regards to the technical investigation of accidents. The Parliament agreed that the role of judiciary will be dealt with by advanced arrangement in each member state, while the role of EASA has been clearly defined. All political groups agreed that certifier cannot also investigate.
"Informing relatives is a very delicate issue and we can afford absolutely no discrimination. The definition of family differs in member states, but the Parliament sought to protect all forms of family, including same-sex partnerships, which are recognised in some members and not in others. ALDE proposed a compromise with the Council and the Commission, which defines family as it is recognised by the law in the country of origin of the victim."
The position of the Parliament in negotiations has been upheld at all important issues, and the Commission has committed to prepare a revised directive on occurrence reporting, the only concession the Parliament had to give to the Council, for 2011. "We need to create a culture of voluntary reporting of even minor incidents, whereby the crew members will not be afraid of prosecution on the basis of their personal responsibility. By establishing patterns of dangerous practice and technical problems much sooner, a large database of incident occurrence reports on the European level could help prevent accidents in the future," said Kacin. "We have proved that the safety of aviation is our top priority. This is possible only when the fear over one's own personal responsibility is overcome by rationality, solidarity and a wish to prevent repetition of mistakes."
