The EU will not ban private jet travel.The disappointment of environmentalists:«Record emissions, now individual countries must act»

Austria, France and the Netherlands are pushing for more stringent legislation.But other countries convinced the Commission to desist

"Another missed opportunity."This is how environmental activists describe their disappointment at the Commission's choice not to limit the use of private jets.The final decision arrived yesterday, 1 June, after a meeting of EU transport ministers.A group of nations, led by Austria, France and the Netherlands were in favor of tightening the rules on business aviation, but the reasons did not convince European Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean who announced that she had no intention of proposing new measures against private jets.And the eco-activists rise up.Because – according to the NGO's data Transport and Environment reported by Euronews – these are vehicles that are 5 to 14 times more polluting than commercial airplanes and 50 times more polluting than trains.And, despite the serious impact on the environment, traffic has increased by over 60% compared to last year.

The anger of environmentalists

«This is another missed opportunity to target the unjust luxury emissions of the super rich», says Magdalena Heuwieser of Stay Grounded, the network of over 200 organizations around the world fighting to reduce air traffic.«But there is no need to wait for the EU to ban private jets.As the success of Amsterdam shows, bans can also be implemented at an airport level, as well as nationally", he specifies.Remembering, for example, that the airport of the Dutch city intends to interrupt private jet flights in specific time slots.Ditto France, which has already enacted a ban on short-haul domestic flights and is seeking to heavily tax private jets.«The latter are the pinnacle of climate injustice.We know that flights in general are very unequally distributed.1% of the world's population is responsible for 50% of all emissions from aviation", comments the environmentalist who calls for at least the institution of a heavy tax.

Which countries are in favor and against

But this is not enough and Austria, France and the Netherlands are pushing for more stringent legislation at European level, so that all member states are held accountable.Therefore, in view of the next meeting scheduled for Thursday they wrote a letter to the Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans and the Transport Commissioner reiterating their requests.“This form of air transport has an excessive per capita carbon footprint and is therefore rightly the subject of criticism,” they write.“In view of this, recent calls to action such as instituting bans on private jet travel are understandable and must be addressed appropriately,” they add.Belgium and Ireland agree.Unlike, however, Luxembourg and Malta which fear heavy economic repercussions.