Judgment_paragraph 22 · Germán Rodríguez Cachafeiro and María de los Reyes Martínez-Reboredo Varela-Villamor v Iberia, Líneas Aéreas de España SA (C-321/11)

22As regards the context of that provision and the objectives pursued by the legislation of which it is part, it is apparent not only from recitals 3, 4, 9 and 10 of Regulation No 261/2004, but also from the travaux préparatoires for that regulation — and in particular from the Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to air passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, presented by the Commission of the European Communities on 21 December 2001 (COM(2001) 784 final) — that the European Union (‘EU’) legislature sought, by the adoption of that regulation, to reduce the number of passengers denied boarding against their will, which was too high at that time. This would be achieved by filling the gaps in Regulation No 295/91 which confined itself to establishing, in accordance with Article 1 thereof, common minimum rules applicable where passengers are denied access to an overbooked scheduled flight.