BRUSSELS — A bid to restart a long-stalled update of the EU’s scheme to compensate air passengers for delayed or canceled flights is in trouble thanks to blowback from a group of countries led by Germany.

The Polish Council presidency hoped to make progress on a file that has been moribund since 2013, but a text negotiated over the last few months did not receive enough support during Wednesday’s meeting of EU ambassadors, several EU diplomats told POLITICO.

Passengers currently receive compensation ranging from €250 to €600 — depending on the distance traveled — if they reach their destinations three or more hours later than originally scheduled.

Airlines have long grumbled about the three-hour threshold, saying it leaves them too little time to resolve issues without facing steep compensation costs.

In 2013, the European Commission proposed raising the minimum delay threshold for compensation to five hours for all EU flights or extra-EU trips of up to 3,500 kilometers, nine hours for flights between 3,500 km and 6,000 km, and 12 hours for flights over 6,000 km.

The European Parliament approved its position on the file in 2014, but countries haven’t moved on the issue in over a decade.

The text proposed by the Polish presidency aims to increase the minimum delay required for passengers to receive compensation to four hours for flights of up to 3,500 km or within the EU, and to six hours for flights over 3,500 km.

According to the Polish proposal, the compensation would vary from €300 to €500, depending on the length of the flight.

But Berlin cobbled together a coalition of countries with enough weight to form a blocking minority. They want to maintain the current threshold of delay that gives passengers the right to compensation, but they also want to cap the amount that passengers can receive at €300.

Warsaw is now trying to reach an agreement with some skeptical countries, such as Spain, on modifications that could garner enough support for a revamped text at the next ambassadors’ meeting on June 4 and then at the Transport Council on June 5.

However, since the compensation threshold is at the heart of the dispute, some diplomats feel it won’t be easy to reach a compromise.

“The Polish proposal is balanced. Changing the threshold for compensation to three hours would cause the other compromises reached on the text to fall apart,” said an EU diplomat.

Airlines are also concerned that the new stalemate will once again kill the long-awaited reform.

“Member states should now seize the opportunity to deliver meaningful reform and improve the flying experience for millions of Europeans,” said Ourania Georgoutsakou, managing director of the airline lobby A4E.

“A4E’s analysis of Eurocontrol data shows that delay thresholds of five and nine hours would rescue 70 percent of rescuable flights, giving travellers clarity and genuine onward-travel options,” she added.

A coalition of consumer rights groups instead believes that the three-hour threshold “has become a cornerstone of passenger protection” and lengthening it would be “an unacceptable step back from the current level of protection.”