Following Italian news is almost a full-time job, and also in Italy I met quite a few people whose only source of information is the sampling of few TV news.
In my case, as I do not live there anymore and I have no activities justifying monitoring local news, I just focus on news items that are reported abroad- or via my networks.
It is more efficient- and once in a while it is quite interesting, as since the establishment of Schengen and the ECB (to say nothing about the Euro), some local decisions can have interesting side-effects.
I am no friend of Ryanair, that I consider quite skilled at playing national and local authorities to cross-subsidize new routes, only to produce effects like the ones I saw on the Pisa-Brussels route: started with 19 EUR, and magically became 900 EUR when the competition surrendered (also Italian fonctionnaires and members of the EP were taking the Eurostar from Rome to Pisa, and then Ryanair, instead of Alitalia or SN Brussels from Rome).
Also, I am no friend of their competitors- I remember the “service” of Alitalia (in late 1980s the in-house joke was that it meant “Always Late In Take-off, Always Late in Arrival), and SN Brussels “forgot” the free tickets of Virgin Express when they bought the company (incidentally- and they too increased the prices after removing the competition).
If you missed the news- it has been reported that the T.A.R. (an administrative court of appeals) sided with ENAC’s decision that “in the interest of consumers” any kind of ID issued by Italian authorities (including hunting and driving licenses) is acceptable to identify yourself for internal flights, not just those recognized by other members states.
One of the qualifying points of Schengen was to create external borders, and de-facto remove internal borders, while harmonizing procedures.
I remember that the first time that I was (at 18) a “scrutatore” (i.e. at a polling station during the political elections of 1983), we had a full paraphernalia of identification documents, as people insisted in using whatever photo ID they had that had been issued by one form of authority of another.
In Italy as in other countries used to be compulsory to have a legal ID with you at all times (in Italy, since the 1920s, as far as I remember…)
- and, since the issue of the European driving license, most Italians had to carry two IDs, the identity card and the driving license (as the latter ceased to be a legal ID, and became just a document certifying that you are entitled to drive a certain category of vehicles).
Therefore, I was quite puzzled to read that ENAC, the Italian authority overseeing flights, had had a legal fight with Ryanair on the appropriate IDs to use for internal flights.
Post-Schengen, “internal flights” are “inside Schengen”- therefore, a logical consequence would be to assume, as Ryanair did, that “identification” means “valid identification”- and driving licenses etc usually are not considered valid documents to move around the Schengen space.
But I understand the logic of saying “we do it our own way”. It follows the same logic adopted for the burden sharing of border control.
Schengen was supposed to build an external, common border, and allow free movement within the area, but whenever there are costs… burden sharing looks more like barrel rolling, i.e. downstream.
If the external border is a shared border, shouldn’t it be jointly managed- and the burden shared (not only financially) between all the Schengen members?
The marginal brawl between ENAC and Ryanair on what should be considered a legal identification document is just a symptom.
We in Europe started adopting a common legal framework for VAT long ago- is it really that complex to follow the same approach for blatantly common interests- and follow through with all the logical consequences?
The multiple languages of European Union are already a double-edged sword for companies willing to operate across European Union, with both positive and negative side-effects.
Actually- three of the official EU languages are also official UN languages, recognizing the reach of those languages…
At least, chances to harmonize the paperwork (plus the associated administrative processes) and reduce the cost of doing business within Schengen should not be missed- as an incentive to operate in European Union (and to join Schengen+Euroland).
Otherwise, we keep announcing that we are streamlining- and then add disclaimers, sub-rules, exceptions, alternatives… making it even more confusing for non-EU companies and citizens (or EU SMEs and individuals willing to work across the market).
Tags: ENAC, identification, immigration, red, Ryanair, schengen, security, tape