Politeia: Europe Under Siege by 'Flying Sand Paper'

After five days of thousands of stranded passengers, numerous airports in chaos and an economic loss now dwarfing the damage sustained as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it is now transpiring that the European national authorities have severely mismanaged the eruption of the Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

Eyeing initially European transnational entities like Eurocontrol and the Commission's Transport Department, word now has it that the responsibility for closing air space rests entirely with the national authorities.

While safety is an imperative in the industry, these measures of closing swathes of European airspace for days on end, appears to have been taken without the slightest consideration for economic consequences.

The English edition of NRC newspaper has this tonight ... (Climategate, anyone?)

"EU can't be blamed for closing European airspace"

Airlines have complained that the decision to close Europe's airspace was based on computer models, rather than on factual information regarding the level of volcanic ash. Matthias Ruete, the top-official of the European Commission's transport department (...) said the US uses a different system in similar situations.

"Don't fly over the volcano," is how Ruete described that system. "If you look at the statistics there is no reason to assume that is any less safe," he added. (...) It is unlikely Europe will adopt the American system any time soon, even if it is just as safe. In the US, the authorities only issue advisories to airlines, which they are free to ignore at their own peril. "We are Europeans," Redeborn of Eurocontrol said. "We like to regulate."

Many are now looking to Europe regarding the ban's financial consequences. Some are even asking whether Europe should bail out airlines the way it did troubled banks. This question too is based on a misconception, however. National governments, not the European Union, kept banks afloat with capital injections. Still, the commission could choose to relax regulations governing state aid. Competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia has already said he would consider such a move.

It is unlikely Europe will ever adopt the American system any time soon, even if it is just as safe, for the reason alone that it is the American system.

What is it these people don't understand in the words 'tax payer'? What's up with the disdain for economic considerations?

The answer is simple: the general European has grown up to believe there's a tree somewhere in the center of his country, which when shaken is dropping gold coins. The relation between paying taxes and the redistribution of it by the state, has purposely been severed.

The governing oligarchies are made up of collectivist statists who look with disdain upon the tax paying middle classes and their shop-keepers' mentality.

Something tells me we haven't heard the last of this matter yet. The angry man in the volcano is far from done.

Updated

Telegraph: "Volcanic ash cloud: Virgin boss Branson criticises flight ban as 'wrong decision' "

The Virgin Atlantic boss said the airline lost about £50 million in six days and called for compensation for the industry. Speaking in central London ahead of the Virgin London Marathon, Sir Richard said: ''We've never asked for Government help in 25 years. We didn't even ask for Government help after 9/11. We took it on the chin. ''But I think on this occasion this was very much a Government decision to ground the planes and we would suggest that the Government should compensate the industry. ''Behind the scenes our engineers and all the experts were telling us that there was no danger at all to flying and that the danger would have been if we had flown close to Iceland through the volcano. (...) ''The experts in the industry were saying it was safe to fly. 'A blanket ban of the whole of Europe was not the right decision. (...) >>>

Apr 24, 2010