The Spectacle Blog
Politicians and bureaucrats in the European Union were treated to a verbal lashing for their cronyism and anti-entrepreneurism by Michael O’Leary, CEO of airline RyanAir, at a conference held by the EU on “innovation.”
The CEO started his remarks tearing down the European ruling class for protecting inefficient airlines that charge too much money for useless services. For this speech to come from someone in Europe, let alone at a summit at the EU, is a conservative dream.
Here is a transcript of the first few minutes of O’Leary’s John Galt speech (video below):
This is the first time I think that I or RyanAir have ever been invited to a conference by the European Union. Because as most of you know, the European Union spends most of its time suing me, torturing me, criticizing me or condeming me for lowering the cost of air travel all over Europe and making life so really difficult for their favorite airlines, which as we all know like high-fare airlines, like Air France, British Airlines, and Lufthansa who must be protected at all costs because they’re the future of Europe — the future of europe lies in people being forced to pay 800 euros for one-hour flights across the continent; the future of Europe lies in people being forced to pay fuel surcharges for the right to travel on Europe’s best airlines run by the Germans, the French, and the British.
Well, sorry we like to disagree… which is why a conference on innovation is so important.
… If you look at the mess Europe is in, if you look at the mess that the European economy is in, there’s only one way out of it.
And it’s not going to be a summit of European politicians.
It’s certainly not going to be a conference held in Brussels, where the last innovative idea came in 1922, I think.
Innovation is going to be the way for the European economy to grow, to develop, to create new jobs and that’s why I think it’s so important we have four young people.
I’m kind of a little bit nervous that we’ve brought them to Brussels where I’m afraid that their innovative streak, or their spark of innovation, might be dulled by a long lunch, an afternoon sleep, followed by an early finish, and then they’d all become — God help us — politicians or bureaucrats in Brussels and therefore do nothing to add to the sum of human kind.
So I urge you as quickly as you possibly can: Get the hell out of Brussels.
Go back to your countries, and stay away from here as much as is humanly possible. Because Brussels, those of you who know the Star Wars Trilogy, this is the evil empire. The Berlaymont is the Death Star, where any hint of innovation is left at the door as you walk in to meet with bureaucrats and politicians, who you can always tell when they’re telling lies because their lips are moving.
For the rest of his speech, he explains how he was able to innovate RyanAir into being one of the most popular carriers in Europe by cutting costs and services to keep fares low. They also don’t invest in PR firms or marketing gimmicks.
And, in O’Leary’s own words: “We don’t have strikes.” In fact, earlier this year, O’Leary controversially demanded that striking air traffic controllers be fired as part of an EU ban on strikes, similar to President Reagan’s response to an air traffic control strike in 1981. Over 2.5 million passengers’ plans were disrupted by the strikes that had O’Leary fuming.
When O’Leary completes his remarks, the EU representative who is moderating the discussion attempts to suggest that the E.U.’s efforts to deregulate the air travel industry were to credit for RyanAir’s success. O’Leary patly replies, “Nope, but it was 30 years ago, and we haven’t innovated since.”
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http://spectator.org/blog/2011/12/19/ryanair-ceo-slams-eu-at-eu-inn
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MikeN| 12.19.11 @ 6:30PM
Ryan Air has proposed flights that are standing only.
TMLutas | 12.20.11 @ 10:42AM
Good for them for having the balls to risk their own money on a concept that's so far out there. I expect the big government alternative would be standing flights to reduce ecological damage due to CO2 which would provide the same discomfort without the cheap fare.
egoist | 12.20.11 @ 6:42AM
It's a rare treat to hear somebody push back and actually defend his company, rather than grovel.
egoist | 12.20.11 @ 6:44AM
I have proposed standing-only meetings (where I work).
Roger Zimmerman| 12.20.11 @ 7:48AM
It's interesting how the moderator views the EU's deregulation as air travel as some sort of innovative gift to the airlines. The implication is that businesses such as RyanAir are lucky to be allowed to operate at all. Ryan's response was good, but a better one would have been: "What right did they have to be regulating air travel in the first place?" No one is ever forced to fly on an airline. Adults can judge for themselves whether an airline will be safe enough and efficient enough for them to want to pay the fare. The government has no business interfering with voluntary transactions among consenting adults.
TMLutas | 12.20.11 @ 10:53AM
As someone who has grown up under flight paths and currently is fairly close to a nearby airport, a quibble. Airplanes pass over huge numbers of properties and it's a legitimate government function for safety to be assured sufficient that the property owners underneath those planes have a reasonable chance of quiet enjoyment without objects dropping out of the sky on them or other real discomfort (noise, odor, chemical residue) being imposed without any realistic redress available.
Deregulation is great so long as you remember to take care of all the stakeholders' rights. The transaction of flying includes those who are overflown. The lack of property holder air rights is a crucial factor in what makes point to point flying possible in the first place. Political protection of their interests is the only alternative to negotiating overflight rights with all of them.
AD-RtR/OS!| 12.20.11 @ 11:37AM
When was the airport established (a), and when did you purchase your home (b)?
If (a) preceeded (b), you choose poorly and should move. If the reverse, your politicians are at fault and should be replaced, and then you should move.
That airport isn't going anywhere.
#| 12.21.11 @ 2:58PM
When they are are reffering to deregulation of the airlines, they are just reffering to the price setting regime. The same thing happened in the US in the last 70s. The government used to set the price and tell which airlines could fly which routes. All the safety standards stuff was never removed.
Kieran| 12.20.11 @ 10:22AM
Roger, while I'd agree with your sentiment, the EU is sufficiently young that I don't think the EU was responsible for the state of regulation at that point in time.
Skinner| 12.20.11 @ 11:49AM
The moderator then goes on to highlight his cognitive dissonance by remarking that he hopes the young man does not return to Silicon Valley...
The European continent would be better off if it HAD a Silicon Valley - but fools like the moderator in charge of Europe will never let it happen!
BIff| 12.20.11 @ 11:55AM
@skinner - Seems we think alike! I must have posted my similar comment seconds after you posted yours.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a proliferation of such bland, stifling bureaucrats in the US. I've been noting a trend among young American entrepreneurs to try to do innovative things in Asia for the past few years. The Europeanization of the US proceeds apace!
Biff| 12.20.11 @ 11:50AM
I found it striking that seconds after the Eurocrat seemed to suggest that RyanAir's success was a result of EU policy, he noted that the next speaker on the agenda, a young biotech executive, had spent time in Silicon Valley, and that "hopefully we're not going to lose another young entrepreneur to the US."
Somehow I doubt that the Eurocrat saw any connection between his own attitude and Europe's ongoing brain drain.