BRUSSELS BEHIND THE SCENES
Weekly analysis with Sam Morgan
France’s domestic flights ban came into force this week. Despite the obvious loopholes and exemptions, the partial embargo does have one thing going for it: other countries might want to outdo the French.
Bans always generate headlines and this week was no exception. Already in the works for two years, France’s plan to scrap flight routes that are served by train journeys of under two-and-a-half hours finally became law.
The French government had already secured the support of flagship flyer Air France by writing the idea into a pandemic bailout granted to the airline, allowing Emmanuel Macron’s administration to proceed largely unopposed.
But the number of flights it will apply to is extremely limited and it has quite rightly been branded as a non-financial subsidy for the state-owned rail company. Other countries might though see it as an opportunity to beat the French at something.
It might be an attractive, even feasible proposal for some.
BRUSSELS BEHIND THE SCENES includes weekly analysis not found anywhere else, as Sam Morgan helps you make sense of what is happening in Brussels. If you want to receive Brussels Behind the Scenes straight to your inbox every week, subscribe to the newsletter here.
In December 2022, the European Commission gave the French government the green light, after its legal services decided that the ban does not break internal market or competition rules.
The EU executive rejected calls from airlines to strike down the policy but did limit the ban to just three years and requested that France remove an exemption for connecting flights. That latter point has effectively been ignored.
A review of the EU rules governing air services is in the works and depending on the outcome, could allow national governments to deploy short-haul bans with more flexibility without the fear of costly legal challenges.
Two-and-a-half hours by train in France does not scrap much of the domestic flight network, falling suspiciously short of the three hours needed to reach Marseille from Paris. Cities like Nantes and Bordeaux, though, will fall within the catchment area.
The measure is purely domestic and cross border flights will not be included, meaning that the cross-Channel Eurostar service — which takes two hours on a good day — will not receive extra government support.
Not that it needs it. Ever since the Eurotunnel opened 25 years ago and passenger services first started, the train firm has taken huge chunks out of the London-Paris market. If Brexit disruption can be reined it, the firm might do the same with its Amsterdam service.
Of course the French government has craftily put together a ban that only weeds out a handful of flights, boosts some train travel and makes it look good when taken at face value. It is more about the symbolism than anything else.
Transport minister Clement Beaune has insisted that France will “go further” but when, what and how are still questions that need to be answered.
One impact that Macron & co. might have is a good old bout of France-bashing, as other governments might see the failings of the French policy and decide that ‘we can do better’.
The normal prime contenders for that would of course be the Brits but given that the Tory government of Rishi Sunak is actually scrapping certain fees for domestic flights, then forget about it until maybe a Labour government takes over.
Even then, getting rid of domestic flights within a sizeable country only really works if there are high-speed rail options. The UK only has one high-speed line at the moment and it is the line that takes the Eurostar to continental Europe.
Other contenders could well be Germany, Spain or Italy.
The government in Berlin is an unpredictable beast that all too often pulls itself apart at the seams. The Greens are a member of the coalition and have pledged to make domestic flights “superfluous” by 2030.
Despite widespread public support for this kind of measure, there is intense opposition from labour unions and the aviation lobby. Instead, the Greens will likely rely on travellers shifting towards rail by themselves, either through climate guilt or incentives.
One country that would desperately love to get one over on the French is Italy. Recent diplomatic spats and ongoing friction over a new train line connecting the two countries could be fuel for the government in Rome to try and show up its counterpart in Paris.
Italy has a fairly good high-speed network and regular intercity flights that could be ripe for the axe. Whether Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government would ever consider the option is another question of course.
Rome-Milan is just three hours by train but Italy’s eternal struggle to unite the wealthy north and poorer south of the country might well be too much of a monkey on the back to build support for a ban.
Showing up the French might have to wait until the next World Cup (if Italy manages to qualify this time).
Spain might have the potential to get the job done.
Madrid-Barcelona, Madrid-Valencia and Madrid-Alicante are all within 2.5 hours, so if the Spanish government followed through with its proposed idea to effectively mirror the French ban, thousands of flights per year would be affected.
In July, Spain takes over the presidency of the EU Council for six months and the country will therefore be in the EU spotlight for a spell. Climate-minded and looking to assert itself, the Spanish government might turn to this option.
Who sits at the head of the table with France and Germany now that the UK is out in the cold is still very much an open question. Spain and Italy had ambitions to take over the seat but neither have so far managed to grasp it by the horns.
Headline-grabbing progressive policies like a flight ban generate an incredible amount of soft power. There are tricky elections to think about at the end of the year though, so depending on the mood maybe it won’t make it onto the manifesto.
France might not have struck much of a blow against pointless emissions but it has at least got people thinking about whether all flights really are necessary.
Your Behind the Scenes columnist was recently booking summer flights from Brussels to the south of Europe and was offered a very cheap connecting flight through Amsterdam airport of all places.
Perhaps this is where the real action is needed: why am I offered a much cheaper flight for a longer journey that includes a 40 minute transfer through an airport that is less than two hours away by train?
If governments can do something about ticket pricing instead, they won’t have to ban anything. Maybe that is asking for too much.
BRUSSELS BEHIND THE SCENES includes weekly analysis not found anywhere else, as Sam Morgan helps you make sense of what is happening in Brussels. If you want to receive Brussels Behind the Scenes straight to your inbox every week, subscribe to the newsletter here.
