European parliament plenary session focuses on aviation crisis

STRASBOURG, April 20 (Xinhua) -- As the aviation crisis held back over 44 percent of European Parliament Members (MEPs) from its monthly session, the crisis itself became the hottest topic on the Tuesday meeting in Strasbourg.

Till Tuesday, 408 of the 736 MEPs succeeded their presence at the session amid the continual disruption to air travel in Europe, but votes initially foreseen are postponed to the next sitting in May as the members' presence from different countries are geographically unbalanced, a Xinhua reporter in Strasbourg said.

The "human dimension of the crisis" was highlighted on Tuesday, the second day of the near week-long session.

Martin Schulz, president of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S& D), cited the economic loss suffered by European airlines, calling "EU to give leadership in dealing with the consequences."

The need for better alternative European transport systems -- including interoperability of national rail systems -- had become apparent, sources close to the European Parliament told Xinhua.

Moreover, a call to avoid panic along with adequate assessment of the damage at a European level was brought up by present members of the session.