In a joint declaration, eight European transport ministers are calling for "socially responsible" air transport in Europe. The underlying aim is to create a balance in European aviation between economic and competition law aspects on the one hand and social and employee rights aspects on the other. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal have signed the document "COVID-19 Recovery: Towards Socially Responsible Connectivity". The Cockpit Association welcomes this initiative and calls for broad recognition of the goals by all EU member states and for the whole of Europe. Germany, of all countries, is holding off and is not participating in the initiative for the time being. "From the German side - also against the background of the current Council Presidency - we would have liked to have seen the declaration signed. We hope that it will be signed after the Council Presidency. A clear commitment from Germany to strong employee rights and social security is an important and necessary signal for German and all European employees," the circular states. "We expressly welcome this initiative. This declaration is a necessary step in restarting air traffic in Europe and we hope for broad support in politics and society. Of course we are disappointed that Germany is not joining in with this important initiative, but Europe will find its way to more justice anyway. The imbalance between employers and employees must be eliminated now. Otherwise we run the risk of the problems becoming even more widespread and permanent after the crisis. Instead of dumping wages, tariff evasion or forced bogus self-employment and other precarious employment relationships, we need fair wages, secure jobs and a common
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