A European regulator found "issues" with Germany's aviation authority in a regular review of air safety enforcement, the European Commission said on Saturday.
Its statement did not say when the review was carried out, but the Wall Street Journal said the commission told Berlin in November "to remedy the long-standing problems" — months before last month's Germanwings crash, which killed all 150 people aboard.
The Journal cited two people familiar with the matter as saying EU officials had found the aviation authority, the Luftfahrtbundesamt (LBA), had a lack of staff, which could have limited its ability to carry out checks on planes and crew members, such as medical checks.